STAFF REPORTER
TWO men – aged 39 and 65 – who played roles in the elaborate escape from prison of kiler-rapist Thabo Bester have been arrested and are expected in court in South Africa on Tuesday.
The 39 year-old is a former prison warder who is believed to have been bribed to play a major role in the escape of Bester in 2022. Bester was recaptured in Arusha, Tanzania traveling with his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana and a Mozambican national.
The 65 year-old is believed to be Magudumana’s father who was arrested at his Port Alfred, Eastern Cape home on April 07. .
The appearance of the duo takes place as high level officials, who have arrived from SA to facilitate the extradition of Bester and Magudumana, continue to work with Tanzanian officials to finalise the transfer of the pair to SA.
General Fanie Masemola, SA’s National Police Commissioner, has welcomed the arrest of Bester and Magudumana and said more arrests could be expected.
Magudumana is also expected to face charges that would include insurance fraud following revelations that she tole bodies form mortuaries in the Free State and submitted fraudulent insurance claims.
Bester and Magudumana, whose Hollywood/Netflix-style escapades captured national attention, fled SA after an elaborate plan that sprung Bester out of prison was uncovered. Bester faked his death and escaped, allegedly with the help of Magudumana, a socialite and disbarred medical doctor.
Ronald Lamola, SA Minister of Justice and Correctional Service, flanked by the country’s Minister of Police, Bheki Cele and the National Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola, confirmed that Bester and Magudumana were arrested in compliance with an Interpol Red Notice.
Cele disclosed for the first time that Magudumana would be charged for assisting Bester to escape from prison.
Lamola said a high-level official delegation from SA will arrive in Tanzania on Monday and would be assisted by the SA High Commissioner in Tanzania to secure the passage of the Bester and Magudumana.
Lamola was confident that SA will receive the necessary co-operation from the Tanzanian authorities to bring the pair to justice. “We are confident that we will receive maximum cooperation from our sister nation of Tanzania, to assist us to bring these fugitives to justice. The level of cooperation has been exemplary thus far,” he said.
Bester is widely known in SA as the “Facebook rapist”. He was convicted for the rape and robbery of women he lured using the social media platform. He promised the young and attractive women non-existent careers as models.
In 2011 and 2012 Bester pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and one of murder in separate trials. He was sentenced to an effective life sentence and was held at the Mangaung Maximum Security Prison, where he escaped in May last year.
Bester elaborate plan was exposed by the investigative journalism of GroundUp.
The publication exclusively disclosed that Bester, who was thought to have died in a fire in his prison cell, was in fact living the high life in Johannesburg with Magudumana.
Magudumana, who claimed to be Bester’s “customary wife”, had attempted to claim the charred bodily remains found in Bester’s cell. The SA government has confirmed that the body found in the cell was not that of Bester.
A case of murder is under investigation following the outcome of the DNA analysis that confirmed that the body of the deceased which was found, was not of Thabo Bester.
Several sources in the criminal justice system said there were plans to hold Bester at the Kokstad Maximum Prison, notorious for its no-nonsense approach to security.
