'Facebook Rapist' Thabo Bester & Partner: A South African Saga

A prison escape, living the high life in Johanneburg, arrests in Tanzania - the saga of fugitive and convicted murderer-rapist Thabo Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana is dominating headlines in South Africa.

The pair were brought back to South Africa from Tanzania, along with a Mozambican national. They were arrested en route from Arusha to the Kenyan border during Easter.

Bester had been sentenced to life for rape and murder before staging his death in a fire in his cell at Mangaung prison in May 2022, and using the fire to escape from prison.

Bester and Magudumana, who had been on the run since fleeing a luxury mansion in Johannesburg, arrived at in South Africa on a chartered flight on April 12, 2023. The following day, Magudumana, and Teboho Lipholo, an alleged co-conspirator in Bester's escape from prison, appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein Magistrates' Court. The duo faced charges including aiding the escape of Bester from the Mangaung Correctional Centre.

Two other people are suspects in the case and, on April 17, 2023, Zolile Sekeleni, Nandipha Madugumana's father, was granted R10,000 bail. But Madugumana, Senohe Matsoara and Lipholo will remain in custody until May 3 and 4, when their formal bail applications will be heard. Matsoara is a former G4S security officer at Mangaung Prison and Lipholo is a former employee of Integritron, the company that maintains the surveillance cameras in Mangaung prison. Both were on duty the day of the fire.

GroundUp reports that authorities dragged their feet investigating the matter after Bester's alleged death in his cell. An August 2022 investigation by the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services found that Bester likely escaped, and the South African Police Services reached the same conclusion by at least October 2022. But a task team to apprehend Bester was only activated on 24 March, 2023 after GroundUp exposed Bester's escape.

News24 reports that police minister Bheki Cele told a parliamentary justice committee on Thursday April 13 that police had kept quiet about Bester's escape from prison because they feared alerting him and potentially blowing their allegedly complex investigation.

GroundUp reports that Magudumana used Bester's alias to book accommodation in Bloemfontein and Ballito in the weeks leading up to the escape. More than R120,000 was spent on these bookings.