Thabo Bester escape: CCTV company at Mangaung prison 'operates without PSiRA certificate'

Integritron Integrated Solutions, the company contracted by G4S security to manage CCTV systems at Mangaung Correctional Centre, does not have a Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) certificate.

According to regulations, companies and staff must have a certificate to be permitted to install, monitor and maintain CCTV services. 

PSiRA deputy director for law enforcement, Talent Zwane, told TimesLIVE that Integritron Integrated Solutions did not hold the required certificate to operate.

“With the information we have, we are investigating the business and its directors,” said Zwane.

A search on PSiRA's website shows it registered with PSiRA in 2013 but its certificate expired in March 2023.

"There are issues with the registration of the business. Technically this is a business without the rightful owners registered under it on our system. The business can’t function on its own hence we are saying they don’t meet the requirements...

"[We are] trying to ascertain whether the business was using registered technicians or not. [The] reason why we are also persuing these people of interest is to ensure that they don’t leave this business that is under scrutiny and go do the same thing in another business."

According to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) database, in January last year, Integritron's sole director resigned. The CIPC records indicate that since then the business has acquired or is in the process of acquiring two new directors. One is registered as a security officer and is registered with PSiRA, while the other person's registration is in progress. 

Zwane said the company and its employees need to be registered, adding that a contravention of the regulations constituted a punishable offence according to the Private Security Industry Regulation Act.

Asked for comment, correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told TimesLIVE: “This is a service provider to G4S. However, that will be a concern.”

Efforts to get comment from G4S went unanswered.

A 46-year-old Integritron employee, Tebogo Lipholo, was arrested on Tuesday and appeared in court on Thursday alongside Dr Nandipha Magudumana, Thabo Bester's girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator, on charges of aiding and abetting his escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre on May 3 last year.

When TimesLIVE phoned Integritron's offices, an employee who declined to give his name, said the director was not available, adding that he was out the country and could not speak to media. 

It's alleged that on the night Bester escaped, the CCTV cameras in the section of the prison where Bester had been held, were turned off. 

Lipholo was on duty that night and is suspected to have colluded with G4S's former warden Senohe Matsoara to help orchestrate the escape. Bester faked his death by setting his prison cell alight and leaving an unknown person's body behind.

Parliament's portfolio committee, in its inquiry into the saga, heard on Wednesday how the CCTV cameras stopped working between 9pm and 4am on the night Bester escaped.

The committee also heard how G4S had failed to carry out its duties. The company executives told MPs there are no fire detectors and its IT security systems are heavily reliant on wardens on duty to action them.

MPs grilled the security company, raising questions about the country's prison public-private partnerships.

Justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola told the committee the government paid G4S R45m every month to run the Mangaung prison facility.

G4S executives told parliament they had a “good track record of performance” and that the Bester matter is a single issue. The company said this shouldn't be the basis of terminating their contract.

National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola said police were closing the net on those who aided Bester.

Magudumana’s father Zolile Sekeleni and former G4S supervisor Senohe Matsoara have been charged with the murder of the unknown man whose body was discovered in Cell 35. They are said to be at the centre of orchestrating Bester's escape.

It is alleged Bester, while in prison, had been bankrolling Matsoara.

Bester and Magudumana are in police custody. Bester is being held at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility in Pretoria, while Magudumana and Lipholo made their first court appearances on Thursday afternoon.

Magudumana and Lipholo will reappear in the Bloemfontein magistrate's court on Monday, alongside Sekeleni and Matsoara.

Bester appeared in court on Friday.

* This story has been updated since its initial publication to correct the spelling of Integritron (instead of Integriton). We apologise for the mistake. We have also added further comments from PSiRA to clarify that the company was registered with PSiRA in 2013 but that its certificate expired in March 2023.

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