Bester and Nandipha arrested

Johannesburg - Fugitives Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania on Friday night while they were allegedly driving over to the Kenyan border as they were continuing to run away from justice.

It is believed that the two lovebirds entered Tanzania through the Namanga border crossing, a one-stop border post, with about 16 000 people. The crossing is often used by car smugglers, human traffickers and drug dealers.

A Mozambican national, Zakaria Alberto, was also arrested for allegedly trying to help Bester and Magudumana and it is strongly believed that he was their designated driver. Bester and Magudumana had been on the run for almost two weeks after it was exposed that the prison escapee was hiding in a R12 million mansion in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.

Bester, who was serving a 30-year sentence, escaped from Mangaung maximum security prison on May 3, 2022 after faking his death by burning an unidentified body in a cell fire.

Magudumana reportedly fetched the burned corpse from Mangaung and tried to cremate it, but it was later confiscated by police who suspected foul play. During a media briefing yesterday in Pretoria, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and his police counterpart, General Bheki Cele, confirmed that the Tanzanian authorities reported that they had indeed nabbed Bester and Magudumana.

Cele said police have launched a “broad investigation” because Magudumana “couldn’t have done it alone”, helping Bester to escape from jail and evade justice.

Lamola said he was confident that the Tanzanian government would deport Bester back to South Africa to finish his sentence, while they might have to go to court to secure Magudumana’s extradition.

The fate of Alberto would also be decided once an investigation had established his real role in the saga.

“We are confident that we going to bring them back, especially Bester, as speedily as possible,” Lamola said.

Cele added that Bester and Magudumana were found in possession of several passports that weren’t yet stamped.

“When they were arrested, they were 10 000km away from Kenya and they were driving a black SUV,” Cele said.

Tanzanian police spokesperson David Misime also issued a press statement yesterday confirming the arrest of the three individuals. The “Sunday Independent” reported last week that Bester escaped from prison after allegedly paying nine officers R5 million for his freedom.

Lamola yesterday confirmed that officials from G4S, a private company managing the prison on behalf of the government, were implicated and that he was expected to brief the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services on Wednesday about the outcome of their investigations into Bester’s escape.

The minister said anyone who assisted Bester one way or the other would face the wrath of the law. “Sunday Independent” understands that Bester’s daring escape was captured on security cameras around the prison and witnessed by some prisoners, but G4S has refused to hand over the footage to the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).

Department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo yesterday confirmed that “G4S has not submitted any footage to DCS”.

Nxumalo confirmed that some prisoners who allegedly witnessed Bester’s escape and blew the whistle on the matter to the authorities were transferred from Mangaung to Grootvlei and Groenpunt prisons after an initiative by SAPS and DCS.

One of those is a prisoner who told the “Sunday Independent” this week that they asked to be transferred for fear of their lives after they blew the whistle on how Bester escaped with the help of some of the prison officers.

The publication also reported that after Bester escaped from prison, he skipped the country to Zimbabwe to lay low until he was certain that everyone believed that he was dead.

Bester illegally entered Zimbabwe on May 11 last year, just nine days after he had escaped, but there was drama. The Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG, reported by Zimbabwean officials to be worth R3.5m, that Magudumana hired with a promise to purchase from a Durban car dealer was impounded at Beit Bridge border post after the driver, reported to be Sicelo Nkosi, was seen changing the car‘s South African number plate with a Zimbabwean one.

The car was impounded on May 11, 2022, and not in January this year.

Bester, who was illegally crossing the border on foot with Zimbabwean smugglers, was also caught by soldiers on patrol and one of the smugglers was shot and injured.

The South African government confirmed that it was sending a delegation to Tanzania today to negotiate Bester’s deportation to face the music.