Retired Constitutional Court judge and head of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) Edwin Cameron has admitted to leaking information about Thabo Bester’s escape to the media in 2022.
Cameron was frustrated with the slow progress of law-enforcement officials, and so he decided to inform the publication GroundUp.
During a presentation to the portfolio committee on justice in parliament, Cameron provided an account of JICS’s role in the Bester escape fiasco.
JICS’s mandate is to inspect prisons, investigate any complaints, and deal with reports of deaths in prisons.
Cameron told the committee that he revealed to the media that the burnt body found in Bester’s cell on the day he escaped was not his.
The committee heard that Cameron and JICS CEO Vick Misser compiled the DNA and autopsy findings and presented them to the police in August.
However, the police requested that the findings not be made public to allow them time to complete their own investigations.
“When we met SAPS, we met with the top seven police officers involved in Bloemfontein. They were on top of it.
“They said to us at that stage that they had two more witnesses in Mangaung and do not want anything publicized at this point, and we deferred to that,” he said.
Cameron explained that the police interviews of two witnesses and investigations into their findings were moving slowly. He began to inform trusted people in the media, relying on the integrity of the editor he knew well.
He said that he only supplied publicly accessible information to GroundUp.
“I started informing trusted people in the media, who have already been identified, in the course of September. I relied on my belief in the integrity of the editor, whom I have known for a long time.
“I trust his integrity greatly. The second thing is that I supplied GroundUp only with publicly accessible information,” he said.
Several MPs asked Cameron why he gave the information to the media rather than approaching the portfolio committee.
Cameron acknowledged that he should have informed the committee of more details and explained that he felt obliged to use the media as a “propellant” in the investigation.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach expressed her astonishment that a murderer and rapist was on the loose, and no urgent action was taken to re-arrest him.
“It is astonishing that everybody knew there was a murderer and rapist on the loose and no one did anything with any urgency to re-arrest them. Until now, until a week ago it became a topic of national outrage,” said Breytenbach.
Cameron said he informed G4S that the body in the cell was not Bester’s in November 2022. However, on Wednesday, G4S claimed that it was only shown the post-mortem in February 2023.
“They knew long, long beforehand but were closing their eyes to it,” Cameron argued.
Cameron conceded that everyone dragged their feet in the matter, particularly G4S. He stated that he felt “complicit in the insufficient response” to Bester’s prison break.
“G4S thought they could get away with dismissing two or three lower personnel,” he added.
Breytenbach condemned Cameron for not alerting Bester’s victims that he was on the loose, and that they could run into their rapist at the shops.
She also questioned Cameron’s failure to use his influence to expedite a response.
“I have demonstrated, perhaps in a less culpable or demonstrable event, the same kind of insufficient urgency, outrage, and alarm,” said Cameron.
Cameron admitted that he could not provide satisfactory answers and was part of the slow-moving levers over the brazen nature of the prison break.
He also commended two police officials for flagging suspicious activity by Dr Nandipha Magudumana, who kept coming to claim the burnt body found in Bester’s cell.
The constable put a stop to this, leading to Magudumana making an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court.
Brigadier Ramorena-Tsoai, in charge of legal services in Bloemfontein, heard of this and intervened, contacting the state attorney in Pretoria to get a notice of opposition filed.
The answering affidavit lodged in August opened up matters for JICS as well. This resulted in the JICS becoming involved.
“She got an SMS in the afternoon. She intervened and urgently contacted the state attorney in Pretoria and got a notice of opposition put in.
“And that answering affidavit, which was lodged in August, opened up matters for JICS as well. I would like to congratulate both those members of the SAPS,” said Cameron.
Also read: Negligence facilitated Bester’s Hollywood-style jail break
Fugitive Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha back in SA after capture
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