Africa-Press – South-Africa. Following Thabo Bester’s brazen prison break, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has assured South Africans the country’s prisons are not porous centres synonymous with escapes.
On Thursday, Lamola delivered his budget vote speech in the National Assembly.
“In the last financial year, out of an inmate population of 157 056, a total of 27 inmates escaped, which represents a percentage of less than 0.017%.
“We do acknowledge that one escape from lawful custody is one too many, and we continue to work towards strengthening our security and adherence to standard operating procedures,” he said.
Tabling his R26 billion department budget, Lamola added there had been a focus on the department’s public private partnership correctional centres, more in particular the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
“As honourable members would recall, on 2 May 2023, we announced our decision to terminate the concession contract with Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC).
“A termination notice for a period of 90 days was indeed served, and I am able to inform this House that the takeover processes are underway with necessary urgency.
“This means that Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) will be part of the correctional services’ portfolio in about two months, whilst Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre [in Limpopo] will be taken over in 2027,” he said.
The government has been left red-faced over the dramatic escape of Bester, a convicted murderer and rapist, who was believed to have died in cell 35 in May last year.
Authorities conceded last month Bester had escaped from prison after GroundUp revealed the body found in the cell was not his.
Lamola said the takeover work streams have factored both Mangaung and Kutama in their planning.
“This will ensure a seamless transition, and some of the lessons learnt with MCC will be critical towards our operations.
“[Our] correctional activities to rehabilitate inmates are continuing across the 243 correctional centres in the country. These activities are geared towards enabling inmates to put their lives back on track upon their release and contribute towards safer communities,” he said.
Furthermore, Lamola added over the last three financial years, the Self Sufficiency and Strategic Framework (SSSF) saved the government a total of R372 million.
“We will continue to save more money, as our officials and inmates are hard at work to improve SSSF performance in the current [2023/24] financial year.
“This is line with our quest of creating an entrepreneurial state. In the last financial year, the Department of Correctional Services was 100% self-sufficient in terms of eggs, meaning we produced enough for inmates’ rations and therefore did not procure any eggs across all the centres,” he said.
Lamola added all management areas in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape were no longer buying cabbage.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
