Thabo Bester escape: POPCRU accuses G4S of chasing profits over security
Over the weekend, the Department of Correctional Services confirmed that convicted rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester, escaped from the Mangaung Prison in May 2022. The facility is managed by G4S.
JOHANNESBURG - Global security company G4S is under heavy scrutiny amid shocking revelations about the prison escape of the man dubbed the "Facebook rapist", Thabo Bester.
Bester is believed to have staged an elaborate prison break from the Mangaung facility in May last year, including a staged suicide.
READ: Thabo Bester escape: Popcru slams running of some SA prisons by private entities
The DNA of the charred body found in his cell is believed to be a mismatch to Bester, with claims that he was recently spotted grocery shopping in an upmarket neighbourhood.
Police union Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has now put the blame squarely on the doorstep of G4S.
READ: Police open murder case against Thabo Bester
The revelations first made by the publication GroundUp have become more bizarre by the day - from claims that Bester ran an elite media house from behind bars to escaping prison under the ruse hat he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in cell number 35.
In addition to the rape and murder charges, he was serving a life sentence for, Bester now faces an additional murder charge after police in the Free State confirmed that they were looking into claims that he may have killed again during this escape.
Bester was incarcerated at a private-run maximum facility in Mangaung, managed by G4S.
It's understood that the company was part of a consortium that signed a 25-year deal with the government to run the facility in a public-private partnership.
Statistics from 2019 estimate that the facility was responsible for at least 3,000 prisoners.
Popcru now said that it was worried about the oversight role that the Department of Correctional Services had over private prisons.
READ: Thabo Bester prison escape: DCS needs to launch internal investigation - Analyst
Union spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said that government spends almost a billion rand a year on two private prisons, including the facility in Mangaung and another in Makhado in Limpopo.
He accused G4S of chasing profits over security, adding that the provision of law and order should remain in the hands of the government.