Pretoria – The ANC has welcomed the arrest of escaped convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana, who were tracked and nabbed in Arusha, Tanzania alongside a Mozambican national suspected of aiding their flight from justice.
It was reported last week that South African crime intelligence officers had tracked the fugitives to Tanzania. Working with the Tanzanian police, the South African law enforcement agents reportedly monitored the fugitives before arresting them on Friday.
“The ANC commends joint efforts led by South African and Tanzanian law enforcement authorities which delivered this positive result. The reported successful arrest which was undertaken through a joint operation between different entities, bodes well for building confidence in our police and criminal justice system,” said ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.
“The ANC calls on the security cluster to emulate this experience as a constant standard in all efforts they undertake,” she added.
Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC “will closely monitor this case”.
“We are invested in seeing Thabo Bester and his accomplices face the full might of the law,” she said.
Bester escaped from prison on May 3 last year, after faking his death in a cell.
On Tuesday, Independent Media reported that while police deputy national commissioner, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili is in Arusha, Tanzania, finalising legal processes for the deportation of Bester and his accomplices, two additional suspects are also expected to make court appearances in Bloemfontein.
National police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola has indicated that more arrests are expected.
This after Bester pulled off an elaborate prison escape, allegedly with the help of officials, where he faked his death in May last year, with the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) at the time reporting he had died by suicide after setting himself alight in his cell.
A case of murder is under investigation following the outcome of DNA analysis that confirmed the body of the deceased found in the cell was not Bester’s.
The autopsy report revealed that the deceased had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, and was already dead, prior to the arson incident.
Bester also faces a charge of escaping from lawful custody.
Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe on Monday said: “A 39–year-old former G4S employee and a 65-year-old man from Port Edward, in KZN are expected to appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, following their arrest as investigations into the Thabo Bester escape from prison unfold.”
The multi-disciplinary team investigating Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre arrested the duo over the past weekend.
