Not all foreign businesses are bad. South Africans are correct to be relieved at the government’s decision to terminate the G4S contract with the department of correctional services over its despicable management of the Mangaung Correctional Centre. However, they need to be careful that their anger does not develop into full-scale economic xenophobia and anti-private-sector sentiment.
August marks the last month of the government’s contract with the British-owned security multinational as manager of the Mangaung corrections facility. This was after the scandal in which, with the help of some of the company’s officials, convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester was smuggled out of the prison in April 2022 where he was serving a life term. ..