Cape Town – Civil organisation Action Society, is reportedly calling for security company G4S to reimburse the government for the R1.4 million paid to return convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester and his accomplice, Nandipha Magudumana, to the country.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi recently revealed that the private charter flight which was used to deport Bester and Magudumana from Tanzania to South Africa reportedly cost around R1.4 million.
Bester and Magudumana were arrested in the Tanzanian city of Arusha, possibly trying to make their way to Kenya along with the Mozambican accomplice Zakaria Alberto.
“We asked any company that could give us an airplane that can carry 14 people, which will be able to get landing rights and all the documentation on their own without the help from the state in less than 24 hours, because as you know South Africans were eager to know whether this deportation was taking place.
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“There were companies who responded and the [plane] we took was the cheapest option at R1.4 million… it was the cheapest of them all. We never asked anybody that we want a luxury flight,” The Citizen quoted Motsoaledi as saying.
But, according to EWN, Action Society said that the money could have gone to better use, like clearing the DNA backlog, training SAPS members or upgrading courts.
“It’s very important that G4S, as well as the ministers, are held financially accountable for the whole Thabo Bester matter because once again, because of G4S’s incompetence and poor performance, as well as that of the state, the taxpayer has to once again pay to fix matters,” the report quoted Action Society’s director for community safety, Ian Cameron as saying.
Meanwhile, another G4S security guard at the Mangaung Correctional Centre is expected to appear before the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Thursday after he was arrested in connection with the Bester escape.
The 51-year-old “faces a charge of assisting an inmate escape from lawful custody as well as defeating the ends of justice,” said police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
