PHUTI MOSOMANE
THE security company, G4S, admitted on Wednesday that Thabo Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer, was given unmonitored access to his laptop and Facebook use even after completing his studies at Damelin College.
In May of last year, Bester, who is commonly referred to as the “Facebook rapist,” escaped from Mangaung maximum security prison with the help of G4S employees.
On Saturday, Justice Minister and Correctional Services confirmed that Bester and his socialite doctor partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania.
This week, Magudumana’s father, Cornelius Sekeleni, and prison warden, Senohe Matsoara, were charged with murder, arson and defeating the ends of justice when they appeared at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court.
Lamola, Correctional Services senior officials, SA Police Services (SAPS) and G4S executive management appeared before Parliament as Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee on Wednesday to account for the Bester prison escape scandal.
Last week, G4S security company failed to appear before Parliament and had to be summoned.
But on Wednesday, G4S Audit and Risk director Gert Beyleveld and Mangaung Correctional Centre director Joseph Monyante made a presentation to Parliament about Bester’s escape.
According to G4S officials who testified before Parliament, Thabo Bester – also known as the Facebook rapist and killer – was granted unlimited and unmonitored access to a laptop while in his prison cell because he was registered for a graphic design course with Damelin.
Bester had used the internet, through both a cellphone and a computer, to target his unsuspecting victims.
ANC MP Nomathemba Maseko-Jele asked G4S officials: “Why was a man accused of luring women on Facebook, dubbed the Facebook rapist, given a device [laptop] that he would use inside prison to continue to lure women.”
Another ANC MP Qubudile Dyantyi pointed out that the course that Bester was enrolled ended in 2021 but continued to use his laptop in prision.
The head of the Mangaung Correctional Centre, Joseph Monyante, told parliamentarians that the prison management processes “heavily relies on human beings” for data collection.
“If a visit is not captured, it is likely human error, not machines used to capture the visits,” he said.
G4S insisted that CCTV footage that is not available when the fire broke out was due to a battery power failure.
The company also admitted that they still don’t know how the petrol that was used to burn a body came into the cells.
But strangely, an unauthorised vehicle was somehow able to enter the Mangaung Correctional Centre days before Bester is said to have escaped.
Bester had requested to be moved to a single cell.
MPs also heard that even after the fire at took place Cell 35, an authorised laptop was discovered, including an unauthorized cellphone.
Documents shared in Parliament on Wednesday further revealed that the government knew that Bester escaped in October 2022, and they did nothing about it.
CCTV footage at the Mangaung Correctional Centre showed two unidentified people running towards the administrative building where CCTV cameras were temporary not working and this was close to Bester’s prison cell.
Dyantyi asked: “Would it be correct to end your contract with DCS?”
G4S director, Jacobus Groenewoud, told MPs that the company was cooperating with all the government and legal authorities.
“No, I wouldn’t agree because we are only talking about one incident, and we have a track record of performance,” he said.
During the parliamentary hearing, Nomathemba Hendrietta Maseko-Jele, an ANC MP, questioned whether G4S was racist.
This was based on the fact that the company only suspended three black employees and none of the white employees who were also involved in the security operations at Mangaung Prison.
On Wednesday, a joint operation between the Gauteng Organised Crime Unit and the Department of Correctional Services led to the arrest of a G4S employee.
The employee is alleged to have manipulated the cameras at Mangaung maximum security prison for a fee, on the night and morning that Thabo Bester escaped.
INSIDE POLITICS
