Top South African police officers are currently engaged with their Tanzanian counterparts to finalise all legal processes required to bring fugitive and Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and his accomplices to justice back home.
TOP SOUTH African police officers are currently engaged with their Tanzanian counterparts to finalise all legal processes required to bring fugitive and Facebook rapist Thabo Bester back home to face the full might of the law.
Bester’s escape is one of the most talked about daring prison breaks, where almost every day a new character is named.
On Friday, Bester, his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana and a Mozambican national, Zakaria Alberto, were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania.
According to reports, the suspects were allegedly assaulted while attempting to resist arrest, which was led by the Tanzanian Police Force and Interpol.
Bester has been on the run since his escape from Mangaung Maximum Security Prison in the Free State in May last year.
On Monday, the police confirmed the arrest of two suspects, a former G4S employee and a man believed to be Magudumana’s father, in connection with the escape from the Mangaung prison facility by Bester.
A multidisciplinary team investigating the escape apprehended a 39-year-old former G4S employee and a 65-year-old man from Port Edward in KwaZulu-Natal.
The duo were due to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the former G4S employee was arrested at his residence in Bloemfontein on Saturday, while the 65-year-old man was arrested on Friday at his home in Port Edward.
“Both suspects have been charged with aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody,” Mathe said.
She said that the delegation led by the SAPS deputy national commissioner responsible for policing, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, had arrived in Arusha, Tanzania.
“The team is currently engaged with their Tanzanian counterparts to finalise all legal processes required towards bringing escapee Bester and his accomplices to justice in South Africa,” Mathe said.
The national commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, welcomed the latest arrests and confirmed that the possibility of more arrests cannot be ruled out, she said.
Reports further suggested that at the time of her arrest in Tanzania, Magudumana was using the name Martha Patience Mmerika Nitshini.
However, there is a Dr Pashy on Instagram who uses the same names as her. Her profile reads: “Mfungho’s mom, Power Women, Dr Anaesthesiologist, Women’s Empowerment. Philanthropist.”
South Africans on Twitter said that she should be investigated as well for being associated with Magudumana and actress Moitheri “Terry”
Pheto is the subject of a Special Investigating Unit lotto fraud probe – her luxury house recently went under the hammer and was auctioned.
Dr Pashy encouraged people to attend a R550 webinar with herself, Magudumana, and Pheto in a poster that was making the rounds on social media.
The Star contacted Dr Pashy via her Instagram account for comment, however, there was no response.
Magudumana’s brother, Nkosinathi Sekeleni, has admitted knowing about Bester and his sister.
In an interview with a talk radio station last month, he said that he spoke out after a fallout with his sister, and since then the matter was taken to court and resolved.
He had said that he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of his sister or Bester.
Magudumana has been heavily criticised for allegedly aiding Bester to escape, and some South Africans, after learning about the jailbreak incident, have come to the conclusion that no matter what the level of education, one can throw it all out of the window.
“A whole NQF level 8 sacrificed her future for a man. This is embarrassing,” said Sipho Moloi.
– THE STAR
