Question NW2079 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
17 July 2023 - NW2079
Msimang, Prof CT to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
In light of the fact that the Government has eventually terminated its contract with the Mangaung Correctional Centre and the private security company, G4S, whereupon he committed that his department was working on a plan to take over the facility in two months’ time after the completion of the vetting of staff within the same period, what are the details of the measures that he has put in place to guarantee the effectiveness of the two months’ vetting and training of staff to ensure that escapes such as the one executed by the notorious murderer and rapist, Mr Thabo Bester, will not happen in future?
Reply:
The Department has since embarked on a project to conduct vetting of the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) personnel including contractors and staff members. A total of 507 Staff and 57 Contractors Personnel Suitability Checks (PSC) were conducted and processed. The PSC include the following:
- Criminal Record Checks
- Qualification verification (Matric and Tertiary)
- Financial record checks
- Property checks
- Directorship checks
As of the 05 June 2023, the Department will be processing the Confidential Security Clearances for all Mangaung staff members. The process involves:
- Completion of Security Clearance Application Forms (Z204) and quality checking for correctness upon submission; &
- Evaluating submitted additional documentations as per security clearance application requirement, well as PSC outcome reports.
Issuing of security clearance certificate is the responsibility of the State Security Agency (SSA) the department will then submit all files for processing to SSA. The envisaged submission date to SSA is 26 June 2023.
In addition, DCS also plans to implement a phased-in training plan for the MCC staff from 01 July to 30 September 2023, for all categories of officials needed for the Centre to function optimally. The training plan will target three groups of officials that are envisaged to staff the centre as follows:
- current qualifying staff who may be considered by the Department;
- officials from the Department who will be transferred from other components / centres; and
- qualifying former officials who will be recruited.
The detailed training needs are currently being determined and existing training curricula and manuals are being adapted for this purpose. Continuous training will also be provided beyond the dates mentioned supra.
END