By Daniel Steyn

• Convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester showed police officers a fraudulent identity document after being apprehended for speeding in July 2022.
• The police officers knew the document was fraudulent, but did not know the man was Bester and released him with a notice to appear in court.
• Although police minister Senzo Mchunu says SAPS did not know that Bester was on the run, investigators in Bloemfontein had already concluded in June 2022 that Bester had escaped.

Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu has confirmed that the South African Police Service (SAPS) released convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester after apprehending him for speeding in July 2022. Bester had escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre on 3 May that year.

Mchunu was responding last week to questions from DA MP and National Council of Provinces delegate for the Western Cape Nicholas Gotsell. Mchunu said that Bester was “arrested” for speeding by traffic officers from Laingsburg on 12 July 2022, three months after his escape.

Bester showed police a fraudulent identity document in the name of Katlego Nkwana. GroundUp has previously reported how Bester used this identity to build a new life outside of prison and scam people out of millions of rands.

The police officers realised the document was fraudulent, but did not know it was Bester. They released him with a notice to appear in court. But he never appeared in court.

Two police officers have received final written warnings for releasing Bester, Mchunu said. He said that a person “detained for speeding, whilst awaiting information which could confirm the suspect’s possible involvement in other crimes, must not be released on a [notice to appear in court]”.

At the time, SAPS had not yet set up a “track and trace” team to re-apprehend Bester, said Mchunu.

“At that specified time, it was unknown to the South African Police Service (SAPS) that Thabo Bester had escaped,” said Mchunu.

But this is misleading. Investigators in Bloemfontein had already concluded by June 2022 that Bester had escaped. This was confirmed by SAPS during a recent investigation by the Public Protector.

When a burned body was found in Bester’s cell on 3 May 2022, it was first assumed that Bester had committed suicide. Police then changed it to a murder investigation after autopsy results showed the person was dead before the fire broke out.

Later in May, Bester’s accomplice and romantic partner Nandipha Magudumana lodged a fraudulent court case, asking for the burned body to be returned for her. By June 2022, the police completed DNA results showing a mismatch between the body and Bester’s biological mother. This led the police to conclude that Bester had escaped.

But SAPS has said that it had to wait for the Department of Correctional Services to open an escape case before it could take action to investigate the escape and re-apprehend Bester.

The director of contract management at the Department of Correctional Services Roseline Phahlane waited until November 2022 to tell the National Commissioner of Correctional Services of Bester’s escape.

And the department’s controller at the prison, Chris Mahonono, waited until January 2023 to open the escape case with SAPS.

Both Phahlane and Mahonono have since received final written warnings and been reassigned to different positions.

On 17 March 2023, GroundUp published an expose of Bester’s escape. A week later, on 24 March, a track and trace team was set up by the Department of Correctional Services and SAPS to re-apprehend Bester, and Bester was arrested in Tanzania on 8 April 2023.

This article first appeared on GroundUp