COSATU statement on a prisoner’s escape from a privately run Mangaung Correctional Centre in the Free State
27 March 2023
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is completely disturbed by revelations that a prison inmate who was meant to be properly secured under maximum security, Thabo Bester, was able to escape the Mangaung Correctional Centre in the Free State, which is managed by the private security company, G4S under questionable circumstances.
The government must explain how this happened and will be prevented it from recurring. It must also account for whose body was found in Bester’s cell. Bester needs to be found and returned to the cell where he belongs. Whistle-blowers who testified against his horrendous crimes in court need to be protected by the SAPS Witness Protection.
This is an embarrassing scandal that should shame those who lobbied and pushed for the privatisation of prisons. This should be attributed to the New Public Management model that promoted the commodification of public services rather than the promotion of constitutional or citizenship rights, and as such citizens became “customers” or “clients” in the practice of the delivery of public services.
It remains a national scandal that private companies continue to be given huge amounts of taxpayers` money to profit from a responsibility that belongs to the state. This amounted to the state selling out integrity and morality in exchange for the maximization of profits.