By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
In a hastily arranged press conference, the Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola and Police minister Bheki Cele confirmed on Saturday that Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania on Friday night.
Cele confirmed that escapee Bester with his an accomplice Maguduma along with Mozambican national have been arrested in Tanzania late last night.
On 26 March 2023, The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service(SAPS), General Fannie Masemola ordered the prioritisation of investigations into the Mangaung prison escape case.
Detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) and the Organised Crime Investigations(OCI) units in the Free State and Gauteng provinces were appointed to work round the clock on this investigation with track and tracing teams of Correctional Services and Crime Intelligence.
Cele said that Tanzanian police had followed the fugitives as they were leaving their hotel in a black SUV. It is believed that they were on their way to crossing the Tanzanian border, presumably into Kenya.
They were found in the Arusha region of Tanzania – which is close to the Kenyan border.
“We have confirmed with all relevant authorities in Tanzania that the fugitives are being processed in the Tanzanian justice system,” Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said. “We are confident that we will receive maximum cooperation from our sister country Tanzania.”
Lamola said it is likely that Bester and Magudumana will be deported to South Africa as they are in Tanzania illegally. Delegates from the South African police and Department of Correctional Service will depart for Tanzania on Sunday.
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. The autopsy report went on to further reveal that the deceased had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, and was already dead, prior to the arson incident.
A case of escape from lawful custody was also registered on confirmation by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) that Thabo Bester was not in their custody.
Bester escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre on 3 May 2022 after faking his death in a cell fire. The burned corpse found in the cell was collected by Magudumana but it was later confiscated by police.
Magudumana then approached the Pretoria High Court, asking for the corpse to be returned to her and claiming to be Bester’s customary law wife. Court papers filed by the South African Police Service revealed that there was no DNA match between the corpse and Bester’s biological mother, therefore, the body found in the cell was not Bester.
After escaping from prison, Bester and Magudumana lived in a rented mansion in Sandton. Bester used an ID document and driver’s licence under the name ‘Katlego Nkwana’. The couple operated Arum Properties together, scamming several people into paying millions for construction projects that were never completed.
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Video Courtesy of GCIS.