The Department of Correctional Services has been hauled before MPs to be grilled on the escape of Thabo Bester, who was serving a life sentence and 75 years for murder and rape.
Chairperson of the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services Bulelani Magwanishe said on Wednesday it could not be business as usual when the country was faced with this issue.
He said the department had not spoken to them about the escape of Bester last May despite earlier indications that he had died in a fire in prison.
Magwanishe said they wanted answers on what may have happened behind the scenes with the scandal blowing out in the open with law-enforcement agencies in the hunt for Bester.
“At this stage the committee is only aware of the information that it gathered from media reports about the alleged death in a fire of the inmate which is now alleged to have been a scam with the new allegations that he escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein,” said Magwanishe.
The meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday.
The involvement of parliamentarians in finding answers to the escape comes after the police and correctional services confirmed the escape of Bester.
MPs are expected to decide what action would have to be taken after the meeting.
The G4S multinational security company that is managing the Mangaung prison said some of the warders who were implicated in the matter were fired between late last year and January this year.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Current Affairs