'Something worse than an escape happened here': McKenzie sends warning over Thabo Bester escape

Ex-convict turned politician, Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie, says more people could have been involved in the escape of “Facebook rapist” Thabo Bester from a maximum-security prison.

Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre after it was believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell. Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said an investigation into the incident concluded Bester had escaped from custody on May 3 2022.

McKenzie, who was in jail for a decade, said “something worse than an escape happened here” and warned that Bester could be killed in the process.

“First, I must state as a fact that many people were involved in this plot, impossible that only those that have been mentioned so far involved. The cover-up here is the second biggest crime,” McKenzie said.

“The cover-up couldn’t have happened without all three below-mentioned parties involved: politicians, prison officials and police. You needed the involvement of all three, you cannot pull this off without all three parties.”

He claimed Bester and his socialite girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana "will soon be killed".

"You don’t pull such a brilliant escape without very powerful politicians, cops and prison officials, these officials and politicians are now hunting harder for the suspects".

He said the “easiest” part to solve was the dead body.

Sunday Times said police minister Bheki Cele revealed DNA tests confirmed the charred body was not Bester's.

“What must be established quickly: 1) Did they bring in an already dead person from outside? 2) Did they kill a prisoner? Very easy to establish this in a prison set-up, do a roll call today,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie suggested the fire was contained, claiming the prison would have burnt and prisoners would have died of smoke inhalation otherwise.

“It happened in the past and a lot of prisoners died. I’m mentioning it to show that this was planned by very smart people with huge knowledge.”

According to him, Bester could have left in the car of a senior official.

“You can escape from the prison building but still need to get past the many guards at the gate, which are forced by law to search all cars. So Thabo must have left in the car of a senior official who might get away [with] not being searched or the people at the gate were involved,” he said.

“The inside of a jail consists of many gates. Those gates are manned by different wardens, each with a different key. Only senior jail personnel have a master key that can open all gates. The body and Thabo passed many gates.”

McKenzie said the “biggest cover-up” could have happened the day after the escape, adding “big money must have changed hands for the absolute silence and unwillingness to investigate deeply”.

“Planning such an escape and walking around in Sandton speaks of arrogance mixed with political cover. He knew he was untouchable,” he said.

“The president should urgently put together a team that will investigate and report back in 30 days to the nation. The biggest [information] this team will discover is that most murders on the outside are being committed by people on the inside. I will give advice to the team for free.”

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