Who is G4S, the company embroiled in the Thabo Bester scandal

Thabo Bester has been the only name on everyone’s tongue in South Africa for the last few weeks.

The escaped rapist/murderer and his alleged accomplice/girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana are back in South Africa after their whirlwind “adventure”.

The escape by Bester suggests that this incident may include parties from the Mangaung correctional centre and the company that handles the security.

That company is G4S and if you are on social media you would have seen their officials being roasted by parliamentary members this week.

WHO IS G4S?

G4S, a London-based global security company, is owned by Allied Universal, a security and facility services company.

According to G4S, the Allied Universal partnership allowed the company to be on a global level.

“Through a global workforce of approximately 800 000 people, we leverage best practices in communities all over the world. With revenue of approximately $20 billion, we have the resources to deploy efficient processes and systems to help deliver our promise locally: keeping people safe so our communities can thrive,” G4S states on their company website.

“In Africa and the Middle East, we have an extensive network of offices and more than 122 000 employees to support our local communities and customers.”

It stands to reason that with all that money, resources and thousands of employees, they would be able to keep a convicted rapist and murderer off the streets.

In South Africa specifically, G4S says it has a strong presence in all nine provinces. “We are one of the largest private sector employers, providing employment to 10 000 screened, security vetted and highly trained personnel countrywide.”

The company is clearly a force in South Africa and provides multiple services.

Their top three services in SA are:

Care and Justice in Mangaung: The company says that it provides safe and secure accommodation to nearly 3 000 maximum security inmates.

G4S Cash solutions: This is their cash-in-transit arm of the company. But it should be noted that the security does also provide ATM solutions (installation and care of ATMs). G4S also has a “Banking solutions” arm that allows them to work with nine commercial banks in South African. The company runs “dedicated regional and shared cash centres on their behalf”.

G4S provides a “cash processing” service for banks in SA. “G4S operates a network of cash centres in South Africa. Currently providing a full outsourced solution for a number of commercial banks, and processing much of the country’s cash requirements,” according to their site.

MANGAUNG PRIVATE SECURITY AND CONTROVERSIES

Cobus Groenewald, director, BCC, G4S Care & Justice Services, presenting his case when he appeared with his colleagues Joseph Monyante, director MMC, and Gert Byleveld, audit and risk director, before Parliament’s portfolio committee on justice to hold meetings to understand the circumstances surrounding the escape of Thabo Bester from the Mangaung Correctional Centre. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)

It would be prudent to say that Business Report will be looking at their work in Mangaung given the current headlines and the parliamentary meetings with G4S.

G4S and its partnership with Mangaung Prison are the first of its kind in SA.

Mangaung is the second-largest private prison in the world and can host around 3 000 prisoners.

The security firm said that it was part of “the consortium responsible for the design, construction and financing of the project”.

If you thought that the Bester debacle was the only controversy G4S has faced at Mangaung, you thought wrong.

The security firm faced allegations of torture by its officers on prisoners in 2013.

Some prisoners have even taken the firm to court over the use of excessive force, if not unacceptable force.

The BBC reported that there were accounts of punishment including electric shocks, forced injections and water torture.

If that was not ghastly enough, the G4S “lost control of the prison” in 2013 after a female custodian was taken hostage by the prisoners.

Eventually, the custodian was released unharmed.

It is yet to be seen what the outcome will be over the Bester escape and the parliamentary hearings that will continue to take place between G4S executives and MPs.

So far, based on the hearings, we know that 23 G4S officials who were on duty “looked the other way” as Bester escaped in the early hours of May 3, 2022.

What is clear is that there needs to be more oversight and better management from the security firm at Mangaung Prison.

There could also be a question as to whether South Africa should use private firms in our prisons.

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