By Khulile Thwala
South African Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola says he will not resign from his job over the Thabo Bester saga, but he apologised and said he took full responsibility for what occurred.
The minister said while the Mangaung prison was under the control of G4S, the Department of Correctional Services had a duty to ensure inmates were kept inside until they completed their sentences.
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Lamola said they also apologised for Bester’s escape as this was not supposed to happen. The minister and police were briefing the portfolio committee on Justice and Correctional Services in Parliament on Thursday on investigations into the Bester prison break.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach had asked Minister Lamola if he would resign from his job following what transpired. He was joined by ACDP MP Steve Swart who also raised concern that the department had failed to alert Bester’s victims that he was out.
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Members of the portfolio committee said the Department of Correctional Services should have let the public know as early as last year when they had become aware of the escape.
They said the fact that inspecting judge of prisons Edwin Cameron told Lamola via email and telephonically that Bester had escaped, there should have been action at the time. Bester escaped from prison in May last year after faking his death.Â
