Thabo Bester and his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana arrived in South Africa in the wee hours of Thursday morning and were taken into custody, amid a heavy security contingent.
FUGITIVES Thabo Bester and his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana arrived in South Africa in the wee hours of Thursday morning and were taken into custody, amid a heavy security contingent.
A plane carrying the duo landed at Lanseria airport in Gauteng on Thursday morning and the fugitives were quickly whisked away in separate vehicles.
Flight ZSDFJ reportedly ferried the two into South Africa.
Bester and Magudumana were tracked and nabbed in Tanzania last week after the former staged his own fiery “death” in his cell at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May last year.
Bester, who is also known as the “Facebook Rapist” and has had many other aliases, lured scores of young women, raping them and robbing them, by promising them lucrative modelling jobs.
Bester’s escape was recently confirmed by the Department of Correctional Services following an in-depth investigative report by GroundUp and the matter has since been under investigation.
Nandipha Magudumana, also known as Dr Nandi, who has also reportedly been arrested, was spotted with Bester in Sandton months after his escape. It was also revealed that she had collected the body of the deceased from the prison, as his wife. This after Bester had faked his own death by orchestrating a fire inside his Mangaung prison cell.
Investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, who also broke the news, said on Twitter: “There was a warrant of arrest and it was executed and one suspect is still at large, I am told. And a third person, who transported the dead body to Mangaung, is also expected to be arrested soon.”
Forensics confirm that the two people arrested in Tanzania and brought back to South Africa are Bester and Magudumana, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Thursday.
He was speaking during a media briefing, alongside Department of Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola and other officials.
Earlier this week, senior officials from G4S appeared before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, where they met fiery MPs who wanted to get answers about how Bester escaped from the facility in May last year.
There were shocking revelations and many unanswered questions as MPs tore into the delegation from G4S with pointed questions regarding the events that transpired before the convicted murderer and rapist escaped.
The security company is responsible for managing the Bloemfontein prison where Bester served his sentence.
MPs wanted to know how Bester was able to run businesses from a prison cell, how he was able to seemingly still have contact with the outside world and why he had been moved to a solitary cell in the days leading up to his escape, which had initially been believed to be a fiery suicide death.
Here are some of the fiery exchanges which took place.
CCTV CAMERAS
Cobus Groenewoud, the G4S regional director, told the committee that on the night of the incident, all cameras were functional on that night, except Broadway 35, which is where Bester was being held and the administrative building.
The on-site night duty supervisor, Senohe Matsoara, failed to follow policies and has since been fired and subsequently arrested. He failed to complete inspection rounds, failed to attend to incidents on time and ignored a call to attend a report of smoke where Bester was.
UNAUTHORISED CAR
An unauthorised car carrying a wooden TV stand was allowed into the MMC days before Bester’s escape.
The prison’s audit and risk director, Gert Beyleveld, admitted to the committee that the TV stand entered the premises without being searched.
When asked if a corpse could have fitted in the TV stand, he said ‘yes’.
LAPTOP
The committee heard how Bester had his own personal laptop that he used to study as he was registered with Damelin to study graphic design.
G4S officials said they did not know when Bester was supposed to have completed his course. However, they were told his course finished in 2021 and it did not make sense that he still had his laptop when he escaped.
JAIL BUSINESS
G4S said it had since become aware of the allegations that Bester ran a business from prison, however, they had no evidence that he ran a business from his cell despite conceding that he had a cellphone and laptop in his cell.
When one MP pointed out that there was evidence on social media, including a video that Bester used his laptop to commit more crime, Groenewoud said he had not seen that video.
Bester ran a media production company from prison, using the alias Tom Motsepe. In a launch event for his business, which was attended by celebrities, he booked out the Hilton Hotel and had guests singing happy birthday to him while he joined by video link from “New York”.
DR NANDIPHA
The committee heard how Dr Nandipha Magudumana visited Bester regularly from 2017 until November 2021, just a few months before he escaped from the prison.
Beyleveld said they would not have stopped Magudumana visiting Bester on a regular basis.
The committee also heard it was Magudumana who collected Bester’s clothing items and other belongings after his supposed death in May 2022.
