Public Protector blames Correctional Services for prolonging Thabo Bester escape

Two officials have faced disciplinary processes and received final written warnings

By Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn

30 September 2024

Thabo Bester faked his death in order to escape from prison and got away with it. Illustration: Lisa Nelson

• The Public Protector has found there was “undue delay” in the Department of Correctional Services’ handling of Thabo Bester’s prison escape.
• Despite being informed of the escape in June 2022, it wasn’t until January 2023 that the Department of Correctional Services formally opened an escape case with the police.
• Two officials have been implicated and face disciplinary measures.
• The Minister of Correctional Services must acknowledge the findings of improper conduct against the officials, and the National Commissioner of Correctional Services must develop an Escape Prevention Strategy and a documented guideline for handling corruption, the Public Protector said.

The Public Protector has found that there was “undue delay” in the way the Department of Correctional Services handled convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester’s prison escape.

Bester escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre, a privately-run maximum security prison, in May 2022 by faking his death in a cell fire with the help of celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana and several prison officials. He and Magudumana were arrested in April 2023 and are currently awaiting trial.

The Public Protector launched an investigation in March 2023 after receiving a complaint from a member of the public that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) had failed the public in its handling of the escape.

The report by the Public Protector, which GroundUp has seen, concludes that the conduct of two DCS officials, Roseline Phahlane and Chris Mahonono, “constitutes improper conduct as contemplated in terms of section 182(1)(a) of the Constitution and amounts to undue delay as envisaged in section 6(4)(a)(ii) of the Public Protector Act.” (Section 182 of the Constitution gives the Public Protector its powers.)

Phahlane, the DCS’s Director of Contract Management, oversaw the contract with Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts, the private company that runs the prison with multinational security company G4S.

Although the DCS had already been informed of the escape by the police by June 2022, it was only in November that Phahlane alerted the National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobokgale.

Thobokgale then instructed that an escape case be opened with the police. Mahonono, the DCS’ controller at Mangaung Correctional Centre, was designated to do this.

But according to the report, Mahonono “took a casual approach” and it was only in January 2023 that the escape case was opened.

Mahonono claims that the police refused to open the case, which SAPS denies.

The Public Protector found that it was “improbable” that the police would have refused to open a case. The investigating officer, Lieutenant Tieho Flyman, told the Public Protector’s investigators that he had advised Mahonono to open the case in November 2022.

Both Phahlane and Mahonono have been subjected to disciplinary processes, have received final written warnings, and are now placed in alternative positions. Phahlane was charged with misconduct in prejudicing the administration and efficacy of the DCS.

Mahonono was charged with two counts of misconduct, to which he pleaded guilty: gross negligence because he did not revoke Bester’s transfer to the Broadway segregation unit, from which Bester escaped; and dereliction of duty for failing to visit the segregation unit after being informed of Bester’s transferral. This oversight resulted in Bester’s escape.

Remedial action ordered by the Public Protector includes:

• The Minister of Correctional Services must “take note of the findings of improper conduct” against Mahonono and Phahlane.
• The National Commissioner of Correctional Services must develop a DCS Escape Prevention Strategy and Guidelines for the Mangaung Correctional Centre within 90 days of receiving the report, and develop a Documented Guideline on how reports of corruption are to be dealt with by the department, within 120 days of receiving the report.
• The Speaker of the National Assembly must bring the report to the attention of the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services within 30 days of receiving the report.

The report says that because disciplinary processes had already been instituted against Mahonono and Phahlane, no further remedial action was necessary against them.