Praise for two 'hero' cops who flagged Dr Nandipha's suspicious behaviour

Two police officers have been lauded as heroes for flagging suspicious activity by Dr Nandipha Magudumana which opened a can of worms after the escape of her lover Thabo Bester.

The parliamentary portfolio committee on justice was sitting for the second day on Thursday to hear presentations from relevant stakeholders on Bester’s elaborate escape.

This includes the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services (JICS), which congratulated two police officers for picking up on Magudumana’s questionable behaviour.

The JICS is mandated to inspect prisons and deal with any complaints and reports of deaths in prisons.

A Const Lekgowa from Navalsig police station in Bloemfontein flagged that Magudumana kept coming to claim the burnt body found in the prison.

JICS inspecting judge Edwin Cameron said the constable put a stop to this. This led to Magudumana making an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court.

A Brig Ramorena-Tsoai, in charge of legal services in Bloemfontein, heard of this and also put a stop to it, Cameron said.

“She got an SMS in the afternoon ... she intervened and urgently contacted the state attorney in Pretoria and got a notice of opposition put in. And that answering affidavit which was lodged in August opened up matters for JICS as well. I would like to congratulate both those members of the SAPS.”

JICS CEO Vick Misser gave a timeline of events surrounding the death of Bester and said they started investigating the mysterious fire two days after it happened.

“On May 19, Dr Nandipha Magudumana approached the court to claim this body. A sworn statement was taken from the investigating officer recording the suspicious events that occurred on the evening in that cell. These statements were provided to the judge and we were tasked by the judge president to intervene on behalf of JICS,” Misser said.

Misser told parliament they received autopsy and DNA results in August and informed the inspecting judge that the body found in the cell did not appear to be that of Bester. 

The SAPS and department of correctional services are also expected to make presentations to the committee later on Thursday.

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