Bloemfontein - The Department of Correctional Services now says privatising the Mangaung prison was a huge mistake.
However, the department said on Tuesday it had no option but to proceed with the R10.6 billion contract because cancelling it would have had legal consequences.
The department said it would not be scared to deal harshly with private security company G4S should it be found to have violated conditions of the 25-year deal.
Speaking after he had briefed the portfolio committee on correctional services about the state of his department, Correctional Services Minister S’bu Ndebele said the department did not plan to punish the company.
Instead, it wanted to make things work smoothly until the end of the contract.
Even though the idea of running prisons privately was practised successfully in many countries, it had proved to be a failure in South Africa and the UK.
Ndebele noted that if G4S had adhered to the conditions of the contract, the Mangaung Private Correctional Centre would have been a successful model.
He said the department would like to give G4S a second chance to do things right so as to avoid a sudden change of system.
Ndebele told the committee that the department would take over ownership of the prison facilities from the Bloemfontein Corrections Consortium when the contract ended in 2016.
The department would have to wait until 2025 to take over day-to-day operations of the prison when the R10.6bn contract with G4S comes to an end.
G4S has recently been accused of torturing inmates, and some of the inmates have attacked each other and the security guards.
Correctional Services chief financial officer Nandi Mareka said:
“We were experimenting and we made mistakes. We had no benchmark of entering into the PPP (public-private partnership).
“Britain was the only benchmark we had; already it is also now facing challenges.”
G4S could not be contacted on Tuesday night, their phones rang unanswered.
The Mercury