Convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, was re-arrested in Tanzania late on Friday night.
This was confirmed by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola during a press briefing in Pretoria on Saturday.
The presser also included Lamola’s colleague in cabinet, Police Minister Bheki Cele and national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Fanie Masemola.
Lamola said the convicted murderer was apprehended together with his ‘accomplices’, socialite-doctor Nandipha Magudumana and a Mozambican national who was “assisting them”.
“An official delegation from South Africa comprising senior officials from the police, justice and correctional services will depart for Tanzania tomorrow. They will be received and assisted by the office the High Commissioner in Tanzania,” said Lamola.
“We are confident that we will receive maximum cooperation from our sister nation of Tanzania, to assist us to bring these fugitives to justice. The level cooperation has been exemplary thus far,” Lamola continued.
Cele said the suspects were captured in Arusha, Tanzania, with “multiple passports in their possession”.
“None of the passports were stamped,” he said.
Cele said Bester and his so-called accomplices were arrested 10 kilometres away from the Kenyan border.
“It looks like they were heading into another country,” he said.
‘Facebook rapist’
Bester became widely known as the ‘Facebook rapist’ after it emerged that he used the social media platform to lure attractive young women with promises of helping them advance their careers in modelling and entertainment.
But he would rape, assault and rob them.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and one of murder in separate trials in 2011 and 2012 and was sentenced to an effective life sentence.
Prison escape
Bester and Magudumana have been on the run since the news of his prison escape was revealed by GroundUp last month.
It was initially believed that Bester had died during a fire at the Manguang maximum-security prison in May 2022.
Magudumana claimed the charred bodily remains as his ‘customary wife’, according to Cele.
The State has since confirmed that the body that was collected by the Magudumana was not that of Bester.
Cele said the State was yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased.
A joint statement by the police and justice ministries on Saturday read: “A case of murder is under investigation following the outcome of the DNA analysis that confirmed that the body of the deceased which was found, was not of Thabo Bester”.
“The autopsy report went on to further reveal that the deceased had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, and was already dead, prior to the arson incident,” the statement continued.
Case against Magudumana
Cele said Magudumana claimed two other bodies from the Mangaung maximum security prison.
“She claimed the body of a mother and father as well,” said Cele.
“She helped Bester escape prison so she will be charged for that,” he added.
Deportation
Lamola said Tanzanian authorities will advise on what needs to be done for Magudumana to be brought back to South Africa, since she was in that country illegally.
When it comes to Bester, it’s a clear case of deportation, said Lamola.
“He has already been tried, convicted and escaped from a South African prison”.
Lamola said he expects a separate process for the deportation of the Mozambican national.
Outstanding investigations
Masemola said they were yet to determine how and where the apprehended Mozambican national joined the accused.
He added that they were also looking into how the suspects moved all the way to Tanzania.
“The passports of the accused were not stamped. Whether they were travelling by car and jumped over non-official borders is yet to be verified,” he said.
“The team that we are sending over to Tanzania will be able to verify all those facts.”
Masemola said they could not yet determine how long the delegation sent to Tanzania would stay in that country but the nation will be “updated for as long as the team is there”.
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