By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Thabo Bester and his co-accused, including Dr Nandipha Magudumana and her father, among others, returned to the Bloemfontein High Court on Friday for a pre-trial hearing.
The convicted rapist and murderer is accused of escaping from Mangaung prison in 2022. Bester’s accomplice Magudumana, with whom he ran several scams and six others are accused of helping him.
Bester, Magudumana, Senohe Matsoara, Zolile Sekeleni, Teboho Liphoko, Buti Masukela, Tieho Makhotsa, Zanda Moyo, and Joel Makhetha face charges of fraud, corruption, assisting an inmate to escape, violation of a body, arson, and defeating the ends of justice.
During a pre-trial hearing at the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Friday, a new trial date of 20 July 2026 was set. The trial is expected to take at least six weeks.
Several outstanding court applications, brought by Bester and Magudumana, need to be finalised before the trial can begin, the court heard on Friday.
Bester is fighting his jail conditions while Magudumana has taken her fight for freedom to the Constitutional Court. This comes after the pair’s escape was stopped in April 2023, and they were brought back to South Africa to face charges.
Bester’s lawyer, advocate MoAfrika Wa Maila, told the court on Friday that he is unable to properly consult with his client. “Instead of us being there and writing notes, we have to speak through a phone, and those phones don’t even work properly,” he said.
“We have not yet consulted effectively since we came on record,” said Wa Maila.
Bester is also challenging his deportation from Tanzania. “If the court finds that he was wrongly deported, it will have a direct impact on the jurisdiction of this court, “Wa Maila argued.
At the time of his escape, Bester was still serving the remainder of his life sentence for rape and murder, for which he was convicted in 2012.
Bester also seeks access to various classified documents and phone records, including those “in possession of the President” and “some of the classified information of national intelligence”.
Wa Maila said that without this information, “it will be terribly difficult” to prepare for the trial.
He said they are also filing an application regarding Bester’s frozen bank accounts: “He must be able to be financially viable for this trial,” he said.
He also seeks access to a laptop he can prepare for the trial.
Bester also requested that the court make an order for him to be provided with food when he comes to court, but the judge said this fell outside her jurisdiction.
Wa Maila said: “All of these applications are important for us to see through before the trial can proceed.”
Judge Ingrid Opperman warned the applications could further delay trial for all the accused. “There might be a time when I will have to draw the line, but I will not be unfair … please do all you can for these matters to be expedited.”
The accused will return to court on 18 March for a case management hearing ahead of the trial. Bester, Magudumana and co-accused Zanda Moyo, who was Magudumana’s gardener, remain in custody. The other five accused are out on bail.