Final written warnings and new positions have been given to the officials named in the public protector’s report on the prison escape of Thabo Bester.
This was revealed by Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald.
Groenewald‘s spokesperson, Euné Oelofsen, said the minister reassigned the officials to alternative positions and issued them with final written warnings for their failure to promptly report Bester’s 2022 escape to the police.
“While the minister acknowledges that the officials were slow to report the escape, he firmly asserts that G4S bears significant responsibility for this incident,” said Oelofsen.
“G4S was tasked with ensuring that such an escape did not occur.
“Minister Groenewald emphasises that such behaviour is unacceptable and assures the public that stricter consequence management will be implemented to prevent similar incidents during his tenure.”
Slow to report prison escape
Groenewald’s remark follows public protector Kholeka Gcaleka’s report, which was released on Monday.
In the report, Gcaleka found that the department’s employees had behaved inappropriately and had been too slow in informing the police about Bester’s escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022.
Gcaleka said the officials had not moved swiftly enough after learning that convicted murderer and rapist Bester had staged his own death and broken out of his prison cell.
She also said that it took at least six months to open an escape case with the police.
The SA Police Service and the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, respectively, notified the department of Bester’s escape in June and August of 2022.
The report by Gcaleka pertains to an inquiry into purported misconduct on the part of the department’s employees, along with claims that Phathekile Holomisa, the former deputy minister of correctional services, neglected to take action in relation to the event.
Captured in Tanzania
Gcaleka found no wrongdoing on the part of Holomisa.
In April 2023, while they were on the run, Bester and his partner, Dr Nadipha Magudumana, were captured in Tanzania by South African law enforcement officials.
The trial related to Bester’s prison escape will begin on February 10 at the Bloemfontein High Court.
Among the many accused facing a long list of charges are Bester, Magudumana, and several suspended G4S prison staff members.
The accusations range from fraud and corruption to arson and undermining the course of justice, to name a few.
