LIVE BLOG: Thabo Bester saga as it happens

Fugitives Thabo Bester and his girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana being whisked away from the Lanseria International Airport in Gauteng under heavy police guard. Picture: Mzilikazi wa Afrika / Twitter

Fugitives Thabo Bester and his girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana being whisked away from the Lanseria International Airport in Gauteng under heavy police guard. Picture: Mzilikazi wa Afrika / Twitter

Published Apr 13, 2023

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Following the re-arrest of convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester and his extradition back to South Africa, all eyes are now on the country’s most secure prison, Kgosi Mampuru II, where Bester will be housed.

His accomplice and lover, Dr Nandipha Magudumana is en route to Bloemfontein to face charges of aiding and abetting an escape, murder, violation of bodies, and fraud, for her role in breaking Bester out of Mangaung Prison run by multinational security firm G4S.

Meanwhile Parliament is grilling G4S top brass and the Ministers of Police, Justice and Correctional Services over the matter. It’s a truth stranger than fiction, and IOL will give you a blow-by-blow account as the story unfolds.

START HERE: TIMELINE: Everything we know about the Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Madugumana saga, from May 2022 fiery ‘death’ to April arrest

The girlfriend of prison escapee Thabo Bester, Dr Nandipha Magudumana and a second accused Teboho James Lipholo, a CCTV operator, appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein Magistrate court for their part in the escape saga. She was arrested along with Bester in Tanzania last Friday following their run for a few weeks. Two other suspects including Dr Magudumana's father appeared in the same court on 11 April 2023. The two cases have now been joined and will resume with the 4 suspects on 17 April 2023 in Bloemfontein. Picture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency (ANA)
Teboho James Lipholo, a CCTV operator appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein Magistrate court for his part in the Thabo Bester escape saga. Picture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency (ANA)
Teboho James Lipholo. Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency
Dr Nandipha Magudumana. Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency
Dr Nandipha Magudumana. Picture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency (ANA)

LOOK: These are the charges Dr Nandipha Magudumana faces

Thabo Bester's partner and accomplice, Dr Nandipha Magudmana, made a brief appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday afternoon, where her case was postponed until April 17.

Read the full story here.

Remember Ananias Mathe, Bongani Moyo? Can Pretoria’s C-Max keep Thabo Bester behind bars?

As South Africans woke up on Thursday morning to digest the news of the highly-anticipated landing of fugitives Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana from Tanzania, it soon emerged that Bester had been confined to the fortified Kgosi Mampuru II correctional centre, also referred to as C-Max in Pretoria.

Read the full story here.

Houdinis of SA: Escapes from correctional facilities and police holding cells in the past 12 months

As the nation continues to sit at the edge of their seats as shocking details are revealed of Thabo Bester’s Hollywood-like prison break, the incident has raised concerns about prisoners escaping.

Read the full story here.

Where is Thabo Bester now?

The South African government has confirmed that Thabo Bester is in custody at the Kgosi Mampuru II Central Maximum correctional facility in Salvokop in Pretoria.

Read the full story here.

UPDATE: Facebook rapist Thabo Bester will not escape Kgosi Mampuru C-Max, says Correctional Services commissioner

How Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s claim of three bodies raised alarm bells

Judge Edwin Cameron has singled out two police officers in Bloemfontein who smelt a rat when Dr Nandipha Maguduma started collecting bodies and claiming them.

This triggered them to start acting against Magudumana to stop her actions and oppose her application in the North Gauteng High Court to claim the body of a person put in a cell as that of Thabo Bester.

Read the full story here.

Judge inspecting prisons says Lamola was told of Bester escape in October

The Inspecting Judge of Prisons, Edwin Cameron has revealed that Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola was told of Thabo Bester’s apparent escape as early as last October.

Cameron told Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services that he had thought that Lamola and his officials were going to try to get investigations going as swiftly as possible.

Read the full story here.

G4S explains why it insisted Thabo Bester was dead in his cell

Security company G4S has defended its insistence that the body found burnt in a single cell at Mangaung Correctional Centre was that of escaped prisoner Thabo Bester, despite post-mortem results indicating otherwise.

Read the full story here.

It’s them! Bheki Cele says fingerprints prove Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s arrests

Forensics confirm that the two people arrested in Tanzania and brought back to South Africa in the early hours of this morning are Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana, says Police Minister Bheki Cele.

Read the full story here.

LIVE FEED: Police, Correctional Services give update on Thabo Bester, Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s arrests

Ministers Bheki Cele and Ronald Lamola are giving an update following the arrests of fugitive Thabo Bester and his lover, Dr Nandipha Magudumana.

Read the full story here.

PICS: Thabo Bester, Dr Nandipha Magudumana back in South Africa amid heavy security

A plane carrying the duo landed at Lanseria airport in Gauteng this morning, and the fugitives were quickly whisked away in separate vehicles.

Read the full story here.

North West police have seized a white Porsche Cayenne vehicle believed to be owned by Thabo Bester’s girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana. Photo: Supplied

Suspect who tampered with CCTV in Thabo Bester escape arrested as police seize Nandipha Magudumana’s Porsche

The suspect is believed to be a former Integritron employee, the company that was contracted by G4S to maintain the CCTV cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre.

Read the full story here.

Thabo Bester: 5 shocking revelations as MPs finally tackle G4S head-on over Facebook rapist escape

Senior officials from G4S appeared before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on Wednesday, where they met fiery MPs who wanted to get answers about how Thabo Bester escaped from the facility in May last year.

There were shocking revelations revealed and many unanswered questions as MPs tour into the delegation from G4S with pointed questions regarding the events which transpired before the convicted murderer and rapist escaped.

Read the full story here.