Former prison warder among those to appear in court over Thabo Bester escape saga

A 39-year-old former prison warder and a 65-year-old Eastern Cape man are the latest two to be arrested in the Thabo Bester escape saga, police said on Monday.

The duo is scheduled to appear in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Tuesday.  

Police announced the two had been taken into custody by a multidisciplinary team investigating Bester's escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022. 

A former G4S employee was arrested 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,” said national police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe.

Convicted rapist and murderer Bester and his lover, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, were arrested last week in Tanzania, 10km from the Kenyan border.  

Mathe said a delegation led by SAPS deputy national commissioner Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili had arrived in Arusha, Tanzania.

The team would engage with the Tanzanian authorities to finalise the legal processes needed to bring Bester and Magudumana back to South Africa. 

“National commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola has welcomed the latest arrests,” Mathe said, adding that more arrests “could not be ruled out” and police were appealing for patience to “allow the investigators the space to conduct the investigations with no undue pressure and expectation”. 

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