Johannesburg - Members of Parliament were left fuming at private security company G4S’s no-show before the Portfolio Committee to discuss the prison escape of “Facebook Rapist” and convicted murderer Thabo Bester.
Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola expressed disappointment that the committee did not proceed with its business for the day.
He said G4S’s presence would have answered many of the questions around Bester’s escape that were in the public domain. “Because, as a department, we’re ready to take the public into confidence, and the portfolio committee, on what we know and what we don’t know. And then what is the process of investigation,” said Lamola.
He said the issue of Bester’s arrest lay with the SAPS. “I think they will be able to give you that detail. From our side, this issue has been very disappointing and embarrassing. But we think that we should not bury our heads in the sand; we need to pick ourselves up and get to the bottom of the matter and arrest the fugitive,” Lamola said.
The Justice and Correctional Services Committee said it would ask National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to summon G4S security before the meeting could proceed.
The committee expressed outrage over the no-show by G4S Security, which operated the Mangaung correctional services facility from where Bester escaped last year.
Bester was believed to be dead after the DCS reported that he had set himself on fire and died, but investigations recently revealed that the corpse found in cell 35 was that of an unknown man.
The private security company was supposed to appear in Parliament yesterday along with Lamola and other lawmakers, but the company opted to send a letter to the committee instead.
Parliament’s Justice and Correctional Services Committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe read the letter in which G4S said it was in no position to attend the meeting, and had to be officially summoned because of confidentiality obligations.
“They were invited, and everybody here is invited through the ministry, and the ministry will send that to the national Commissioner. They were properly invited. They elected not to do so,” Magwanishe said.
Ben Winks, a lawyer representing G4S, said the company was not summoned to appear before the committee.
“It was explained in the letter, without any intention of causing disrespect. G4S has requested to be summoned so that it can make appropriate witnesses and documents available as quickly as possible. But it will need a summons in order to be released from its statutory and contractual confidentiality restraints,” said Winks.
DA-MP advocate Glynnis Breytenbach expressed her outrage over the private company’s failure to appear before the parliamentary committee.
“It’s very clear that they have something to hide. If there was nothing to hide, they would have been here. The absolute contempt with which they have operated leaves me so outraged that I have a lot of trouble containing it,” Breytenbach said.
The Star