Members of a Parliamentary Committee lashed out at private security firm, G4S, after the company requested to be officially summoned to appear before the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Corrections to account for the dramatic escape of so-called Facebook rapist, Thabo Bester.
Committee Chairperson, Gratitude Magwanishe, told MPs on Tuesday that G4S had sent a letter on Monday afternoon asking to be officially summoned to appear before the Committee and to do so after the Easter weekend.
He read out the letter to the Committee before MPs took aim at G4S for what they said was "disrespecting" Parliament after invitations were sent out last week.
Also present at the Committee meeting were Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, his Deputy, Patekile Holomisa, the Deputy Minister of Police, Cassel Mathale and the Inspecting Judge of Correctional Services, Judge Edwin Cameron.
Magwanishe said that in terms of the Committee's scheduling of presentations, G4S was meant to be the first to appear before the Portfolio Committee, followed by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
The Committee is seeking answers after it emerged that Bester, who had reportedly died in a cell fire last year at Mangaung Correctional Centre, had escaped and had been living large in Johannesburg for almost a year.
Mystery still surrounds the identity of the charred corpse found in the cell at the privately-run facility.
DNA analysis confirmed that the remains were not that of Bester.
DA MP, Glynnis Breytenbach, said she was livid at the developments, saying G4S was in control of a private prison facility and had responsibilities not only to the inmates but to society at large. "They had a responsibility to the victims of the people incarcerated there," she said.
Breytenbach accused G4S of thumbing its nose at the Committee of Parliament to which they should account and "demanding to be summoned here to obtain some sort of flimsy protection, for what," she asked.
"It is very clear they have something to hide. If they had nothing to hide they would have been here," Breytenbach continued.
ANC MP, Anthea Ramolobeng, also noted that G4S had sent legal representatives to the Committee, and questioned why the company would be seeking "immunity" during this process.
"We are sitting with a national crisis, the escape of Thabo Bester would have not only angered society but a lot of women. Women are unsafe, a rapist is out there," she said.
Johannesburg lawyer, Advocate Ben Winks, told the Committee that he had been instructed by Webber Wentzel attorneys on behalf of G4S. He said his mandate was limited and could not make a presentation as to what happened in May 2022.
Winks said, who said they meant no disrespect to the Committee, added that G4S is "keen to assist the Committee" but said it was unable to do so without a summons. "Section 111 of the Correctional Services Act contains certain statutory confidentiality obligations for contractors and sub-contractors that can't simply be waived by the contractor itself."
He said the security company also had "contractual confidentiality obligations to the DCS under the Private Public Partnership" and contractual confidentiality obligations to the employees concerned.
"It is only by virtue of Section 22 of the Parliamentary Privileges and Immunities Act that a witness can be immunised from its liability for breach of contract or any other kind of liability in response to a summons," he said, adding that was the reason why G4S requested to be summonsed to that it can make the appropriate witnesses and appropriate documents available as quickly as possible," Winks said.
He said the company "will need to have a summons to be released from its statutory, and contractual confidentiality constraints."
Magwanishe adjourned the meeting to a date to be decided on and that G4S will be the first to make a presentation to the Committee.
