In a startling turn of events, a convicted murderer who faked his own death has been discovered alive and well in Tanzania, Arusha after escaping from a maximum-security prison in South Africa with the alleged help of prison guards.
The killer, Thabo Bester, was reported dead in the blaze that occurred at a prison in South Africa managed by a private British security firm. However, recent developments have revealed that he had in fact escaped with the assistance of prison guards and had been living in the open with his celebrity doctor girlfriend.
According to a media briefing by the South African Justice Minister and Minister of Police, Thabo Bester was arrested in the border town of Arusha by Tanzanian authorities and has been deported back to South Africa, after apparently fleeing the country.
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Bester had been a fugitive since faking his own death in a prison fire, but questions have been raised about the circumstances surrounding the blaze, leading to suspicions that Bester may have escaped with the help of others.
Dr Nandipha Magudumana, the girlfriend of Thabo Bester, along with a Mozambican national named Zakaria Alberto, were arrested alongside Bester on Friday.
All three individuals were found to possess multiple passports that had not been stamped, and they were apprehended just 10 kilometres away from the Kenyan border, according to statements made by South African police minister Bheki Cele during a press briefing.
In 2012, Thabo Bester was convicted of the rape and murder of his model girlfriend, and in 2013, he was found guilty of robbing and raping two other women.
After a recent autopsy report revealed that the man believed to be Bester, who had supposedly died in a prison fire, was not actually him, authorities launched a search for him and his girlfriend, who had gone on the run.
Magudumana, who is Bester’s girlfriend, is a well-known medical doctor and entrepreneur with over 100,000 followers on social media. She has shared glamorous pictures, promoted her media appearances, and boasted about various achievements, including being named one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans of 2018.
During a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, it was revealed that prison guards had allegedly assisted Bester in faking his own death by smuggling a corpse into his cell, which was then set on fire, and subsequently claimed to be a suicide.
Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, the 65-year-old father of Thabo Bester’s girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, and a former prison warden, Senohe Ishmael Matsoara, aged 38, were both arrested and accused of aiding Bester in his prison escape.
They faced charges of “defeating the ends of justice, fraud, murder, and arson” in a Bloemfontein court on Tuesday, but did not enter a plea and have no legal representation. The judge ordered them to remain in custody until their next hearing, scheduled for April 17.
The parliamentary hearing into the prison’s shortcomings, which began earlier, continued on Thursday with a focus on the initial failures that led to Bester’s escape. Further hearings were also planned to investigate the knowledge and actions of the police, the Department of Corrections, and South Africa’s Ministry of Justice in relation to Bester’s escape, including when they became aware of it.
The incident has raised serious concerns about the security measures in place at the prison and the competence of the private security firm that was responsible for its management. Questions have also been raised about the circumstances surrounding the prison fire, which has been the subject of media reports.
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South African authorities have vowed to investigate the incident thoroughly and to implement stronger security measures to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. The case has drawn widespread attention and has been described by many as a plotline straight out of a Hollywood movie.
