South Africa: Court, Media Delve into Actions of Alleged Accomplices in Thabo Bester Prison Escape

Becker Semela / GroundUp (CC BY-ND 4.0)
Zolile Sekeleni consoles Nandipha Madugumana in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Monday April 17, 2023.
12 April 2023
allAfrica.com
By Andre Van Wyk

Cape Town — Several individuals who allegedly assisted convicted Facebook rapist and murderer Thabo Bester to escape from the Mangaung maximum-security prison will face legal scrutiny. According to News24, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) will launch an investigation into Dr. Nandipha Magudumana, Bester's alleged lover. The council aims to determine whether she behaved unprofessionally. An HPCSA spokesperson said in a statement: "Doctors sign a code of conduct and code of practice. We will look at all her actions to determine if any professional conduct was breached in light of all allegations against her."

This comes amid claims from celebrity doctor Mmereka Ntshani, that Magudumana assumed her identity, after fleeing the country with Bester. Both Magudumana and Bester were apprehended in Tanzania, along with a Mozambican national.

Meanwhile, a former official of security firm G4S - Senohe Matsoara - an alleged accomplice - was arrested along with Magudumana's father. Their case, according to eNCA, has been postponed. Matsoara allegedly ignored calls of a fire in Bester's cell at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, IOL reports. In an appearance before Parliament's portfolio committee on justice and correctional services, G4S regional commercial director Cobus Groenewoud said that multiple incidents have been recorded in the lead up to Bester's escape are are under investigation.

According to Times Live, police have said additional arrests are expected. This comes as details into Bester's escape found a video taken last month showing Magudumana at a Johannesburg restaurant along with three men identified as a private investigator, debt collector and a representative for a car dealership. In the video, Magudumana was told she failed to make payments on a R1.35 million Mercedes-Benz she bought in 2022. The luxury vehicle, which Magudumana drove through the Beitbridge border post, is assumed to have been a getaway vehicle in Zimbabwe in the event they had to escape from South Africa.

Social media posts by the former G4S prison guard Senohe Matsoara several months before Bester's escape, show him enjoying lavish dinners, buying a Volkswagen T-Roc R-line valued at R650,000 and enjoying spa treatments with his partner, Times Live additionally reported. Matsoara faces charges of murder, arson, fraud and defeating the ends of justice as both he and Magudumana's father allegedly killed an unknown man in or around Bloemfontein and used his corpse to help Bester escape.

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