Africa-Press – South-Africa. Police and the Department of Correctional Services are conducting an investigation after a report that an inmate threw himself from a building at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in the Free State – the same facility that recently made headlines for the escape of rapist and murder, Thabo Bester.
Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the inmate died on Monday morning after he “managed to climb to the truss of the building and threw himself to the ground”.
“The incident was reported to the SAPS, which arrived on the scene. Other structures, such as the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, will also be notified as per the appropriate procedure. An internal investigation is ongoing,” said Nxumalo.
He said the inmate initially received treatment in the prison hospital but was later rushed to a hospital outside the facility, where he eventually died.
The incident happened just before 09:00.
He had been in prison for 10 years, serving a life term for murder and aggravated robbery.
The Mangaung Correctional Centre is the same facility from which Bester managed to escape in 2022 after staging his death.
In May, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) issued Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC), the company which held the tender to manage the prison, with a 90-day termination notice.
However, before the termination notice took effect, BCC and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services agreed to a mediation process.
Bester is currently facing charges linked to the escape, along with his lover, Nandipha Magudumana, as well as the latter’s father and former prison officials who allegedly helped him orchestrate the escape plan.
It’s alleged Magudumana and others smuggled a body into the prison and put it in Bester’s cell before setting the cell alight.
Bester was ferried out of the prison, and it was initially believed the body found in the cell was his.
The plot was discovered after several public sightings of Bester.
Later, DNA tests confirmed that the charred remains found in the cells were not Bester’s but those of Katlego Bereng, who had died of a blunt force injury to the head.
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