I won’t resign over Thabo Bester escape: Lamola

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Justice Minister Ronald Lamola says he will not resign over the Thabo Bester debacle.

Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, a maximum-security prison, in May last year, after allegedly staging his suicide. Bester and his alleged accomplice Dr Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania last week and deported to South Africa.

Lamola has appeared before Parliament’s Justice and Correctional Services Committee to give MPs more information around the circumstances of Bester’s escape.

Lamola says he won’t resign because he executed his duties in this regard.

“I won’t resign because I did what I had to do. You will have heard even judge that as he informed me, he didn’t inform with certainty that Bester escaped. He said it must be investigated that is why I immediately called the national commissioner.”

VIDEO | Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services briefed on Thabo Bester’s escape