Bester, Magudumana’s IDs confirmed but public will only see them in court: Cele

Police minister Bheki Cele says Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana's identities have been proven but the public will have to wait for their court appearance to see their faces.

Cele was speaking during a briefing led by his ministry and justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola on Thursday morning.

Answering questions about the deportation of the couple, officials clarified why the public have not seen the duo since their arrest in Tanzania.

“There were two South African teams that left on [April 9] and have been based there negotiating. One thing that they did, the technical team, they took his fingerprints which were sent back to the country and those were matched. So that satisfied the officials of Tanzania. They have to be satisfied that it's a South African and we have evidence on that. So it has been forensically proved that it's him ... surely when he appears in court, if he will appear again, you'll see him. Also the fingerprints of the lady were taken, though she was very co-operative, we were told.

“We know that the customary husband of the doctor did not co-operate, even from the other side.

“There has been this question that how will you know [it's really her], well it has been answered that you will go to court and see her.”

Department of justice spokesperson Chrispin Phiri added: “Dr Magudumana is appearing in court today [Thursday], court is an open process. But we never parade prisoners and we're not going to start with these ones.”

Cele also answered questions on how they left the country, saying they did so illegally as there were no documents proving otherwise.

Earlier, the justice department confirmed the successful return of the couple after their arrest at the Easter weekend. 

The duo, with a Mozambican national, were arrested on Friday en route from Arusha to the Kenyan border. The couple landed at Johannesburg's Lanseria airport on a chartered flight. Bester was taken to Kgosi Mampuru prison.

Magudumana was transported to Bloemfontein, where she will appear on Thursday on several charges, including murder and fraud.

Three other people have been arrested in connection with Bester's escape from custody in May last year.

Lamola and his deputy Patekile Holomisa were pressed on how much they knew about Bester's escape.

A GroundUp report said the department of correctional services knew as far back as October 2022 of Bester's escape but failed to act until this year.

Both insisted they would answer questions about this when they appeared before the justice and correctional services portfolio committee.

“We will answer all that ... at the portfolio committee. The issues related to the passports and so forth, home affairs will have a briefing tomorrow morning [Friday]. They will clarify those issues,” Lamola said.

He also clarified the issue of allowing inmates to have personal laptops in their cells, saying a previous court order compelled the department to allow them to “use their personal laptops in their single cells without the use of a modem”.

“The laptops will be made available for inspection at any given time. The applicants will have use of their laptops in their single cells for as long as they remain registered students with a recognised tertiary institution in South Africa. So that is the court order we have and as a department, we are duty bound to comply with it.”

He said G4S will clarify whether Bester was a registered student.

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