‘Thabo Bester’ body released for burial despite irregularities in death certificate and death notice

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The death certificate, burial order and notice of death used by Facebook rapist and murderer, and now fugitive, Thabo Bester, in his elaborate escape from Mangaung maximum security prison, contained a series of glaring irregularities. 

These irregularities included that no identity number was filled in on the home affairs documents.

The documents require identity numbers for burials to occur and deaths recorded on the home affairs death register.

Bester’s ruse involved having the body of an unknown man set alight in his solitary confinement cell and then having correctional services and home affairs officials complete the documents so the body could be released from the undertaker for burial.

Since his death Bester has allegedly used his original identity number to reportedly masquerade as globe-trotting South African businessman, Katlego Tom “TK” Motsepe Nkwana, who lives in Johannesburg’s plush northern suburbs of Hyde Park, Morningside and Sandown.

On Saturday the correctional services department confirmed that Bester had escaped and that the body found in his cell was not his.

The release of Bester’s body for burial, according to the death certificate, notice of death and burial order, which is in TimesLIVE Investigations possession, was done on May 6 2022, three days after Bester allegedly burnt to death, and a day after some prison officials alerted police to their suspicions about the circumstances around his death.

In a statement released on Tuesday, G4S, which manages the prison, said on May 3 2022, the day Bester died, they alerted the correctional services department and police to the fire. 

“On May 5, after an initial investigation, G4S alerted the police to concerns surrounding the circumstances of the fire. SAPS were supplied with relevant information and evidence.

“Three employees at the prison were suspended [and] subsequently dismissed in September 2022, December 2022 and January 2023 respectively for matters relating to their conduct on the evening of the fire. We are co-operating fully with the police in their investigation.” 

TimesLIVE Investigations can reveal that despite the concerns and irregularities in home affairs documentation needed by Nandipha Magudumana to bury her husband, G4S and home officials still filled in the documents which allowed the body to be released for burial.

The irregularities relate to Bester’s death certificate, burial order and notice of death being issued despite only his date of birth, June 13 1988 filled in, with the entry points for his identity number either left blank or scratched out.

The notice of death was also completed without the required home affairs officials details being filled in. A home affairs official must sign the document which is required for the death to be recorded on the department’s birth and death registry.

Libo Mnisi, president of the South African Funeral Practitioners Association, said unless the death is of an unknown person, the issuing of the burial order, death certificate and notice of death without an identity number was “highly irregular” and pointed to potential fraud.

“There is a lot of fraud these days with the recording of deaths and death certificates. You cannot issue these documents without an identity number. All the particulars of the deceased must be on the papers. If the identity number is not filled in the death cannot be registered.

“It’s the law. It’s not normal to record only a date of birth. Once the identity number is on the document it means that person is officially registered as dead and the identity number may no longer be used. When an identity number is left out, these documents can be used by anyone with that birth date to commit all kinds of fraud.

“Home affairs officials must sign all of these documents.”

Neither the departments of home affairs nor correctional services responded to detailed questions as to why Bester’s identity number, which officials at the Mangaung prison would have had from the moment he was imprisoned there, was not filled in on the documents.

Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said: “The investigation is ongoing. Responding to questions on a subject under investigation is never ideal when findings are yet to be determined.”

In its extensive reporting on Bester’s escape, GroundUp revealed Bester bolted after an elaborate suicide plot where he allegedly burnt to death in a solitary confinement cell.

At the time of his escape, Bester was serving a life sentence plus an additional 75 years’ imprisonment for the murder and robbery of his girlfriend, Nomfundo Tyhulu and the rape and robbery of two women in Durban.

Tyhulu, a BMW saleswoman, was killed while the couple holidayed in Cape Town. Bester lured his rape victims to Durban through Facebook, where he promised them modelling careers.

TimesLIVE Investigations can reveal that on Bester’s death certificate a black pen line is drawn through the place where his identity number should be entered. On the death notice and burial order documents the identity number spaces are blank.

The burial order is signed and stamped by a home affairs official, with the death indicated as unnatural. The document reveals the official issued the order despite not having received his original identity book or a copy.

It shows the body was handed over to Free State undertakers Molly’s Funeral Home on May 6.

Bester’s death certificate, stamped by a home affairs official and signed on behalf of the director-general, indicates his death as unnatural, that he is single and carries a code indicating he was a prisoner.

At the time Bester’s body was released, Magudumana, who is now on the run with Bester and her two daughters, claimed the body stating that she was his customary wife.

It is not indicated whether Magudumana presented a marriage certificate to claim Bester’s body.

Nowhere on the three-page notice of death — which is filled out by Molly’s Funeral Home’s George Sotyu; Dr Jacobus Fouche, who conducted the autopsy; and G4S official Hendrikus Brummer — is Bester’s identity number contained.

Other important information missing from the notice of death, are the details of the home affairs official who would have received and processed the documentation needed to register Bester’s death.

Brummer signed the form indicating the body was that of Bester and wrote that he was a prison inmate.

Fouche signed that he examined the body and wrote on the form, in blocks usually reserved for a deceased’s thumbprints, the word “burnt”, indicating that there were no fingerprints with which to identify the body.

Fingerprints of a deceased are taken to cross-reference and verify them with those contained on the home affairs population registry.

In his autopsy report Fourie determined the cause of death as a “blunt force trauma to the head” with the person showing “no signs of smoke inhalation or burn wounds in their airways” with signs “consistent with the use of an accelerant” to start the fire.

TimesLIVE Investigations has a copy of the autopsy report.

Sotyu confirmed he collected Bester’s body from the Mangaung state forensics mortuary.

“I took the body to our funeral parlour.”

He said the prison warders identified the body and signed to verify the identity.

“We don’t know who this person is or is not. The warders must do the necessary identification and provide us the identity documents and fill out their part of the notice of death.

“Home affairs must have the identity number to identify the body. If there is a dispute with the identity then they refuse to issue a death certificate. Death certificates, notices of death and burial orders must have an identity number.”

Sotyu said if no identity number was provided home affairs issued a handwritten document.

“That is done when there are questions or disputes over the body’s identity. It could relate to a person having two identity numbers, two people having the same identity number or a person having changed names.”

An executive at the Molly’s said the body was collected by RSA Funerals for transport from Mangaung to Soweto.

RSA Funerals owner Christo Prins confirmed they transported the body on May 6.

“We get contracted to transport a body. We do not know who the deceased is and don’t ask. We are given a sealed envelope with documents which we are told were used to identify the body. Because we do not do burials we do not need to look at them. We hand them to the recipient of the body, which is what we did in this case.

“We do not know what is going on in this matter.”

He declined to comment further.