Mangaung prison inmates accuse local cops of bias

Prisoners claim police protect prison guards

- By Bongani Mdakane

Prisoners at the controversial Mangaung prison in Bloemfontein, Free State, have complained that local police deny them justice.

They claim that Bloemspruit police station bosses and officers treat them condescendingly when they report cases of assault and other human rights abuses against prison officials.

In March, Sunday World reported that inmate Mpho Mkhumbeni of Virginia, near Welkom, was allegedly murdered in his cell.

The allegation was that warders and top prison officials had beaten him to a pulp for “stealing cash from an official”.

Four prison officials employed by G4S, which runs the facility, were arrested for Mkhumbeni’s murder.

The prison rose to infamy when notorious rapist, fraudster Thabo Bester escaped its clutches after faking his death.

Speaking to Sunday World this week after a long investigation, inmates blamed prison bosses Anneke la Grange, Sipho Ntuli and Ida Malangabe, saying they were in cahoots with the police officers to quash cases against prison officials.

One inmate, Wandile Yokwana, told