Cops reveal charges Dr Nandipha Magudumana faces when she appears in court

Dr Nandipha Magudumana will face four charges, including murder and fraud, when she appears on Thursday morning in the Bloemfontein magistrate's court.

Magudumana and her lover, Thabo Bester, were deported to South Africa in the early hours of Thursday after their arrest in Tanzania.

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

National police commissioner Lt-Gen Fannie Masemola, at a briefing headed by justice minister Ronald Lamola and police minister Bheki Cele, confirmed the various charges Magudumana and the Mozambican national face.

“The charges Magudumana will be facing are:

• aiding and abetting escape [of a convicted prisoner from lawful custody],
• murder of a number of bodies that we found in her possession,
• violation of bodies, and
• fraud.”

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that weeks before Bester’s scam in which he “burnt to death” in his prison cell, Magudumana allegedly stole three unidentified bodies from Free State mortuaries. 

"[With regards to] the Mozambican national, the case is still under investigation. We will determine what offences have been committed and if so, we'll embark on a process of extradition,” Masemola said.

With regards to Bester's placement at Kgosi Mampuru, national correctional services commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said this was done because the prison was the “nearest facility that has all the security measures that will ensure he doesn't harm himself or be harmed by any other person”.

“Obviously in that facility we have different sections. We chose to accommodate him at C-Max because we're also looking at the intensity of security and the contact that we need to manage around him given the type of offender he is.

“We are placing 24/7 surveillance on him. We are also placing 24/7 contact with him with selected highly trained correctional services officials to ensure that whatever circumstance he finds himself in, we will be first on call.”

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