Parliament to be briefed on Thabo Bester escape – but G4S, which manages the prison, not invited

G4S, the global security company which manages Mangaung maximum security prison from which "Facebook rapist" and murderer Thabo Bester escaped, has questioned its exclusion from Tuesday’s parliamentary briefing on the escape.

On Monday, the company said it had written to parliament's portfolio committee on justice and correctional services requesting a formal invitation to appear before the committee to address the escape. 

“From the outset of the events that occurred on May 3 2022 at the Mangaung Correctional Centre, G4S Correction Services has fully co-operated with various investigations by the relevant authorities and continues to do so.

“G4SCS is bound by statutory obligations in the Correctional Services Act and is therefore unable to issue public statements on the events or its co-operation with the subsequent investigations.

“Therefore G4SCS would welcome the opportunity to engage with the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice and correctional services and has written to the committee requesting that it issues a formal invitation to G4SCS (SA) to appear before the committee to address this matter under parliamentary privilege.”

The committee is to hear firsthand on Tuesday from the department of correctional services on Bester’s escape.

It is not known why neither the department nor the committee did not invite G4SCS to the meeting or whether the company will be invited to any subsequent meetings.

A G4S company executive, speaking on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media, said it was believed the move was deliberate.

“It’s the only way the company can put its side of events across. To speak out on any other platform or forum would see the company in violation of the law.

“It's clear certain people do not want a lot of information to be aired in a way which would ensure the company does not violate any laws.”

Bester faked his own suicide by fire, escaping from the prison dressed as a warder. The escape, which has seen three correctional services officials suspended and three G4S employees fired, allegedly occurred when the body of an unknown man was smuggled into the prison, stored in the facility's kitchen fridges for two days and brought into Bester’s cell in the solitary confinement unit where it was set alight.

Postmortem reports revealed the person, who was burnt beyond recognition, had not died from burn injuries but from blunt-force trauma to the head.

The person also showed no signs of smoke inhalation with an accelerant, believed to be paraffin, detected by forensic pathologists. 

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