MPs call for end to G4S private prison contract: 152 unnatural deaths in custody in SA since 2022

Africa Melane speaks to Portfolio Committee Chair Kgomotso Ramolobeng on Parliament’s call to cancel the G4S contract at Mangaung Correctional Centre.

Listen below:

Mpho Mkhumbeni. Quinton Fortuin.

Two of the prisoners who have, in the last year, lost their lives while incarcerated in South African prisons.

A report says Fortuin died after guards attacked him at Goodwood Prison in the Western Cape. The officers had used 'excessive force' when restraining him.

Mkhumbeni, who died in March, was pronounced dead following a prison search.

The total number of prisoners who have died in unnatural circumstances in the last three years sits at 152, the parliamentary correctional services portfolio committee heard on Tuesday.

Those deaths included homicides, suicides and drug overdoses.

ALSO READ: A (literal) ton of drugs, 41k cellphones, 11k weapons confiscated from prisoners

This week, the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services called for the immediate termination of the G4S contract at Mangaung Correctional Centre.

"The minister, or the executive, must find a way to get the Department outside of that contract."

- Kgomotso Ramolobeng, Chairperson - Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

"You can't continue having people who are managing a correctional facility, but who are refusing to account."

- Kgomotso Ramolobeng, Chairperson - Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

In the case of Mkhumbeni, Ramolobeng says there has been a refusal from G4S to submit the report on his death on time.

"The incident happened around March. They only submitted the report on the 4th of September."

- Kgomotso Ramolobeng, Chairperson - Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

"They were resisting or refusing to even account for what would have happened on that day that would have also claimed the life of an inmate."

- Kgomotso Ramolobeng, Chairperson - Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

Moreover, she says the search carried out on Mkhumbeni was illegal.

"That drill was unauthorised because the temporary manager did not authorise it."

- Kgomotso Ramolobeng, Chairperson - Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

ALSO READ: Medical parole system is failing dying prisoners

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