Nearly three years after convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester’s audacious escape exposed glaring security failures and thrust Mangaung Correctional Centre into the international spotlight, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has officially taken full control of the prison, bringing an end to G4S’s controversial 25-year management of the facility.

From Wednesday, the prison is no longer under private management and has been renamed Grootvlei Maximum Correctional Centre, operating under the Grootvlei Management Area in the Free State/Northern Cape Region.

The takeover follows the expiry of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement between the DCS and Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC), the consortium that operated the prison through global private security company G4S. The contract officially ended on 30 June 2026.

The department said the transition was carefully planned to ensure there was no disruption to prison operations.

DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the facility had seamlessly transitioned into government control.

“The Department of Correctional Services has officially assumed full management and operational responsibility of Mangaung Correctional Centre, now renamed Grootvlei Maximum Correctional Centre. The facility is fully operational, ensuring continuity of services and the safe, secure and humane detention of inmates,” Nxumalo said.

He said all operations would continue in line with the Correctional Services Act and departmental policies governing South Africa’s correctional system.

“This marks the culmination of extensive planning in ensuring a seamless transition, with no disruption to the daily operations of the correctional centre. Direct management by DCS reinforces government’s commitment to a correctional system that upholds constitutional values, promotes rehabilitation and reintegration, and places public safety at the centre of its mandate.”

Although the department’s announcement focused on the future of the prison, the facility’s name remains synonymous with one of South Africa’s most embarrassing correctional failures.

In May 2022, Thabo Bester — serving a life sentence for rape and murder and dubbed the “Facebook Rapist” because he lured women through social media — staged an elaborate escape that went undetected for months.

Authorities initially believed Bester had died after a fire broke out inside his single prison cell.

A severely burnt body was discovered inside the cell, leading prison officials to conclude that Bester had taken his own life.

The body was later revealed not to be Bester’s, exposing one of the biggest prison security scandals in South African history.

Investigations uncovered that the body found in the cell belonged to another man who had allegedly been brought into the prison as part of the elaborate escape plot.

Questions were immediately raised about how such an operation could have taken place inside one of the country’s most secure correctional facilities without the assistance of insiders.

The scandal deepened when evidence emerged showing that celebrity doctor Dr Nandipha Magudumana, Bester’s girlfriend, had visited him repeatedly inside the prison.

Court documents later alleged that she enjoyed extraordinary access to Bester, including private visits that investigators believe helped facilitate his escape.

Investigators also uncovered evidence suggesting that Bester had access to luxury items, electronic devices and privileges that ordinary inmates would never be allowed to possess.

The revelations triggered widespread criticism of G4S and its management of the prison.

Multiple officials, including prison employees and former G4S staff members, were later arrested and charged for allegedly assisting in the escape or covering it up.

After fleeing South Africa, Bester and Magudumana were eventually arrested in Tanzania in April 2023 following an international manhunt.

They were deported back to South Africa and remain before the courts alongside several co-accused accused of helping orchestrate the elaborate escape.

The incident severely damaged G4S’s reputation in South Africa.

The multinational security company, one of the world’s largest private security firms, has operated prisons, detention centres and security contracts in numerous countries.

Its management of Mangaung Correctional Centre had long been viewed as a flagship example of private sector involvement in South Africa’s correctional system.

However, the Bester escape raised serious concerns about oversight, accountability and security at privately managed prisons.

Parliament, the Department of Correctional Services and other oversight bodies launched investigations into the failures that allowed one of South Africa’s most dangerous inmates to simply disappear while officials believed he had died.

The prison was eventually placed under temporary government administration before the PPP agreement ran its course.

Wednesday’s takeover formally closes the chapter on private management at the prison.

The DCS has now assumed complete responsibility for all security, inmate management, rehabilitation programmes and operational functions at the facility.

While officials insist the transition has been smooth, the prison’s new management inherits a facility whose reputation was permanently scarred by the Bester escape.

The department hopes the renaming of the prison and the return to direct state control will signal a fresh start.

Whether Grootvlei Maximum Correctional Centre can restore public confidence after the scandal that embarrassed the country’s correctional system remains one of the biggest tests facing the Department of Correctional Services.