Labour dispute: 500 guards fear lock-out as Mangaung Correctional Centre handover deadline looms
The Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein. (Photo: Gallo Images / Volksblad / Mlungisi Louw)
With the Mangaung Correctional Centre set for a state takeover, apprehension mounts for 500 guards caught in a legal battle over job security and operational readiness.
The maximum security Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) housing 3,000 hard-core inmates, faces a moment of truth on 30 June when the facility’s status officially changes from a 25-year private/public partnership to state-run, while 500 highly trained guards stand to lose their jobs.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ED_444130.jpg "Convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frikkie Kapp)")
Convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frikkie Kapp)
On 10 June, two weeks before the scheduled handover of the maximum security facility outside Bloemfontein, the Pretoria high court declared as unlawful the Department of Correctional Services’ (DCS’s) emergency intervention at the MCC in the wake of the embarrassing escape of Thabo Bester in 2022.
Bester’s embarrassing breakout involving an incident of arson, a corpse smuggled in a TV cabinet, and his walk to freedom disguised as a prison guard, captured headlines as the convicted rapist became one half of a fugitive couple alongside his partner, Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
Intervention ‘unlawful’
Mopping up the mess, National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale invoked Section 112 of the Correctional Services Act, taking over the facility, a decision now declared unlawful.
The high court ordered that the department repay Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC), the company which subcontracted G4S, R1.7-million, the cost of the intervention.
The ruling does not, however, affect the looming Tuesday, 30 June deadline when the 25-year public/private partnership with BCC officially ends.
The prison will then fall within the Grootvlei Management Area covering the Northern Cape and Free State and will be incorporated into the Department of Correctional Service’s operational structure.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/mangaungprison-bs-20230425.jpg "The Mangaung Correctional Centre. (Photo: Becker Semela)")
The Mangaung Correctional Centre. (Photo: Becker Semela)
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) welcomed an April labour court ruling that the termination of the concession had constituted a “transfer” which meant “in clear and unambiguous terms, that all workers employed under G4S will automatically transfer to the DCS, with their jobs protected”.
Popcru stated that the ruling confirmed that the employees of G4S would not be thrown into the cold uncertainty of unemployment, but would instead be absorbed into the Department of Correctional Services. This was a decisive rejection of any attempt to retrench workers under the guise of contractual changes.
However, while the department said it “noted” a labour court judgment that 500 workers previously employed and trained by G4S be absorbed into the new workforce, it had appealed against this judgment.
This is why, come 30 June, the 500 employees stand to be locked out of the facility.
‘Hostile takeover’
While the department informed Parliament on 3 June that it was ready to “assume full responsibility” for the facility, BCC has sounded the alarm, claiming a breakdown in cooperation with the Department of Correctional Services and accusing it of an effective “hostile takeover”.
Daily Maverick has seen correspondence between BCC’s contact agent, Itumeleng Mokoena, the Department of Correctional Services and other relevant departments in which the company states it had made numerous “proactive” attempts at ensuring “a compliant and orderly handover”, but that this had not occurred.
In Parliament, the Department of Correctional Services said it had undertaken an “extensive planning and implementation processes” to ensure “a seamless transfer of operations”. It said it could “confidently affirm” that all systems were in place “for the successful assumption of responsibility”.
A “comprehensive recruitment process” had kicked off at the beginning of June, said the department, and 668 posts, including professional, specialist and artisanal positions, had been advertised in April.
A total of 76 officials and 60 emergency support team officials had been identified, trained and “deployed” to conduct a comprehensive gang profiling exercise at the prison “as part of strengthening security and ensuring a stable correctional environment”, it said.
Unmanaged transition
Mokoena warned in correspondence that an “unmanaged transition could compromise security in a facility with a high number of offenders serving life sentences”.
Because of the department’s appeal against the Labour Court ruling, staff, with years of accumulated knowledge of operational routines, were anxious as the DCS’s court actions “risks the displacement of the personnel who possess the expertise required to manage the institution effectively”.
He noted that the most difficult loss was of a quarter of a century of accumulated knowledge and operational routines, which could not be created hastily through training or policy directives.
Mokoena also said that beyond the prison walls, the transition affected the broader community as the centre supported a wider ecosystem of small businesses and local suppliers, who needed to be managed to prevent an economic fallout.
BCC has described the department’s attitude in the lead-up to the handover as “intention for a takeover—and a hostile one at that” rather than an orderly one.
As of June 2026, he noted, none of the 10 essential requirements for a lawful expiry handover – such as a signed transition protocol or a joint risk register – was in place.
Unannounced visit
In March, the South African National Preventive Mechanism, a body brought to life through an international protocol, paid an unannounced visit to the maximum security centre.
Officials present were Thonoko Modise and Katleho Molapo of the South African Human Rights Commission, Michael Prusent of the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services, Petunia Kekana of the Health Ombud and advocates Chemin Ontong and Judy Thwala of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
One of their parting concerns in a later report related to the imminent expiry of the G4S management contract and the anticipated takeover.
“During the visit, the facility managed by G4S appeared to maintain a high standard across various areas inspected and observed, including accommodation conditions, food services, skills development workshops, gardening and farming activities, sports and recreational programmes, educational services, cleanliness of the facility, offender uniforms, kitchen hygiene, religious services, and overall command and control measures relating to officials and offenders,” the report noted.
The delegation “expressed concern regarding whether the department will be able to maintain the same standards at Mangaung Correctional Centre following the takeover of the facility”.
Parliament’s portfolio committee on correctional services has also expressed “serious reservations” about the department’s preparedness to take over the management of the Mangaung Correctional Centre, but the department has assured that the handover will be smooth. Come 1 July, its assurances will be put to the test. DM
