South Africa currently has two private prisons, one of them infamous for the Thabo Bester escape, and there “has never been an indication” more are in the offing.

This was the gist of Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald’s response to a question asked by MKP (uMkhonto weSizwe Party) National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Member of Parliament (MP) Edward Nzimande. The Gauteng public representative of what is the official opposition in South Africa’s seventh democratic administration sought clarification on the issue of private prisons as well as risks and benefits involved.

The private prisons are the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, managed and operated by British security company G4S, and the Sinthumule Correctional Centre outside Louis Trichardt, where United States (US) private corrections company CEO Group has the management contract.

Mangaung has the dubious reputation of being the place of incarceration the so-called “Facebook rapist” Bester escaped from in 2022 while the Limpopo facility was rocked by a violent riot which damaged it last year.

Groenewald told his questioner his department will not renew the two management contracts when they expire.

He is not pro privatising prisons because all powers are relinquished to a private company allowing them to perform all custodial functions. These include implementing policies and prescripts relating to, among others, safe custody; rehabilitation programmes; security/custodial personnel and facility management.

Nzimande was further told even where prisons are privatised, DCS retains overall responsibility for the contracted company’s operations. This responsibility goes to a DCS controller permanently at the facility for the duration of the contract.