Kudos to MPs for shedding light on Bester’s escape Little blessings during times of darkness matter. It would be cynical and improper of us as the country to lambaste and not find the grace to give praise where such accolades are deserved.
The ancient writings of sages of old remind us: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light, and those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawn.”
Humans are inspired by great words and great deeds, ancient and modern. Great thinkers remind us that, even as life appears gloomy, dark and dreary, there will always be moments with silver linings, and it is still possible to see goodness and greatness amid hopelessness.
We, as a publication that helps society shape opinions, and in a diverse society where goodness is often underplayed and evil underscored or accentuated, we dare not turn a blind eye to acts of goodness, wherever they may be coming from.
This morning as you, the reader, pick up your paper, we share with you what we think was an act of courage and boldness by our parliamentary representatives.
The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, led by its chair, Gratitude Magwanishe, even as parly is on recess, has seen it fit to reconvene on a matter of great weight – to give the citizenry a better understanding of why it became possible for convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester to escape from the Mangaung Correctional Services facility.
Big wigs of the correction services joined in, as did the departmental and government delegation of Justice and Correctional Service Minister Ronald Lamola and his deputy, Deputy Minister Phathekile Holomisa. So did retired Constitutional Court justice Edwin Cameron, who heads the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, and the National Commissioner for Police and Correctional Services, Makgothi Thobakgale.
As for the private entity, G4S, under whose care Bester was entrusted, there is still a lot they need to answer for – including serious lapses such as the failure to warn the public about an escape from their facility of a dangerous convicted rapist and murderer.
The public needed to know about Bester’s escape, yet in their defence to the committee, G4S officials claimed they had no instruction, embodied in the contract, that suggested they were
duty-bound “to disclose to the public about Bester’s escape”.
The explanation sounds bizarre, and inconsistent with rationality, yet there are lessons to be drawn, including the dangers by the state to outsource key functions to private institutions.
We want, in a nutshell, to congratulate the government for allowing this probe to take place, and in the process give the nation a clearer picture of what led to this “great escape”, which led to the possible killing of another person and the charring of his body.
The government, through its portfolio committee, has been upfront engaging with the public on this score, to help unravel the “mystery” surrounding Bester’s escape. And so, we say, kudos to our government. May this act of working for the good of the nation become entrenched in all spheres of government.
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