Staff Reporter.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has launched a manhunt for two inmates who escaped from a prison in the Eastern Cape.
The two men escaped from the centre’s sports field on Thursday.
The latest escape comes amid a renewed focus on the criminal justice system following the escape of convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester from the privately-run Mangaung Correctional Centre in Mangaung.
Bester escaped from the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) in Bloemfontein in May 2022, after it was initially believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell.
However, the Department of Correctional Services South Africa, which originally declared him dead, confirmed that the charred body found in his cell was not that of Bester who was convicted in 2012.
The Facebook rapist and his accomplice, disgraced doctor Nandipha Magadumana, who helped him escape were on the run for about nine months before they were recaptured in Arusha in Tanzania in April.
Bester and Magudumana arrived back in South Africa on Thursday, 13 April, after a delegation consisting of the Department of Justice and police officials departed for the east African country to bring the fugitives back to face trial for the crimes they committed.
The department’s spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo says Siyabulela Khohliso and Athini Nolhi Mzingelwa were serving sentences of ten and eight years for rape respectively.
“Additional resources have been deployed in support of the Emergency Support Team of Correctional
Services working together with the South African Police Service to hunt down the two inmates.
An investigation into this incident has been launched by DCS. But critical at this stage is the rearrest of the two offenders. Members of the public are urged to contact the nearest police station should they come into contact with the two escapees,” Nxumalo says.
Compiled by Lehlohonolo Lehana.