So-called Facebook rapist and murderer, and now fugitive, Thabo Bester, allegedly walked out of Mangaung maximum security prison during his daring May 2022 escape disguised as a warder, with the help of prison officials.
TimesLIVE Investigations can reveal from interviews with prisoners and correctional services officials, who were locked up in the unit and on duty at the prison at the time of the escape, and G4S prison management officials investigating the escape, that Bester carefully hatched the plan well in advance.
Bester made his escape on May 3 2022 after he faked his own death by having a body smuggled into the prison, allegedly hidden inside a large bag used to transport food for inmates.
Once smuggled into the prison, sources say the body was believed to have been hidden inside the kitchen’s fridges for two days before a senior prison security official allegedly used a wheelchair to wheel the body from the kitchen to the isolation unit. It was then placed inside the cell and reportedly set alight in the early hours of the morning. It is not known whose body this was.
During the commotion of the fire, Bester is believed to have walked out, disguised as a prison warder.
A G4S executive, who cannot be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said: “What is concerning from the footage, is that one warder enters the unit through the emergency unit just before the first fire with a wheelchair, while two warders are seen leaving through the same exit a short while later, just before the second explosion, in a hurry.
“We don’t know who that other warder was — though we have our suspicions.”
He said he would be gone soon. I thought he meant that he would be returning back to the general prisoners cells.
— Prisoner
TimesLIVE Investigations has learnt from prison sources and inmates that Bester was moved into the isolation unit three days before his escape.
He was, according to multiple sources, placed in cell 35 in the two-floor unit after he made an “own safety” application to G4S officials.
G4S, a global security company, runs the prison on behalf of the department of correctional services.
Department sources say own safety applications are made when prisoners fear being attacked by fellow inmates. Prison management assess the applications, which are then approved or dismissed once regional department officials have been notified.
Department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said a report on the ongoing investigation would be released in due course which “will assist everyone in terms of details”.
He was unable to say when the report would be released.
On Saturday, the department confirmed Bester’s escape.
G4S on Tuesday announced that three prison officials had been fired in September, December and January after an internal investigation. It is understood that one is a security supervisor while the others monitor and control the prison’s CCTV camera system.
TimesLIVE Investigations has been told that near cell 35 is an emergency escape door leading to a courtyard, the kitchen and another courtyard which has a gate opening onto a street.
It is this route which Bester allegedly took when he gained his freedom.
“It was not the first time he was brought into the unit,” said an inmate.
The inmate, speaking on condition of anonymity from a Gauteng prison, was in the isolation unit at the time Bester was there.
The prisoner is one of two who raised the alarm with Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services (JICS) and were transferred to other prisons for blowing the whistle. Both prisoners were interviewed in November by a Col Flynn from the Free State provincial investigative unit.
The prisoner is one of three inmates, a warder and a G4S source, who all have knowledge of Bester’s escape, who were interviewed by TimesLIVE Investigations.
The prisoner said Bester went to the isolation unit on April 30 after making an own safety application.
“There was another inmate in cell 35, who was told he was being moved. The inmate refused. When he refused, the security reaction unit [EST] was called in. It was a hell of a scene. They moved him to cell 47 and Bester was placed in that cell.
“We couldn’t understand why. No-one gets to choose which cell they want. Also you don’t just move into a cell. You go to the unit’s holding cells, which are cell 2 to cell 10, where you are held until the department has approved your application.
We discovered that certain cell doors, including Bester’s, were opened just before the first explosion.
— Prison warder
“Once the application is approved you get a certificate from the prison management which goes on your file. It’s proof that you have permission to be in isolation.
“Bester was moved into cell 35 the same day he arrived. Getting a cell can take up to two weeks.”
He said they met Bester on April 30.
“He was chilled. He was sitting there with a computer and cellphone, which he had when he came to the unit earlier in the month.
“We greeted each other in Sotho, which he is fluent in. He is also fluent in Zulu. He said hi but stayed in his cell. When we came back from morning exercise I asked him how he was doing and he said great.
“He said he would be gone soon. I said he meant that he would be returning back to the general prisoners’ cells.”
He said Bester stayed in his cell for the next two days working on his computer.
Recalling the day of the escape, he said everyone was asleep when they were woken by a loud explosion.
“It was a huge bang. You could smell the petrol. My cell was on the ground floor. I looked out the door’s pexiglass window and saw smoke coming from Bester’s cell. It was chaos. Everyone was yelling.
“We opened our cell windows which look onto the street to get fresh air because of the petrol smell. Each cell has its own emergency button, which triggers an alarm for that specific cell. What was strange, no alarm came from Bester’s cell. Also, there were no screams for help.”
He said two warders, one of them Senohe Matsoara, and another warder, who were on duty, came to see what was happening. Matsoara has declined requests for comment.
“They just looked through his door and told us to shut up. I asked the one warder what was going on because I was scared. I didn’t want to die in a fire, but he said it was nothing.
“He said Matsoara had instructed him to take the general inmates to the kitchen to prepare breakfasts, which was about 2.30am. Matsoara remained behind to ensure we went back to sleep.”
Those in the unit, who had gone back to sleep, were woken again by a second explosion shortly after 3am.
“It was huge. There was smoke everywhere. There are lights in the unit, so you could see black smoke coming from Bester’s cell door.”
He said he saw Matsoara and another warder enter Bester’s cell and flames coming out.
“They came straight out. The fire extinguisher which is usually in the passage was not there. It was in an office which the other warder had to run to get. There was so much smoke. I saw Matsoara go back into the cell and then disappear. Other warders from the prison came with a nurse, who then called a doctor, who said the person was dead. Matsoara was not there though.”
He alleged another senior prison official arrived and disappeared into the cell closing the door.
“They were there for a while. They then sprayed the fire extinguishers, even though the fire was out. They called two prisoners who had cleaning duties and instructed them to bring buckets of boiling water and clean the cell.
“They cleaned after the EST [emergency support team] guys took the body out of the cell. They took the body out to the state forensic pathologists, who were not allowed into the prison.”
He said when JICS officials arrived there was a “huge argument” outside the cell.
“They were screaming, wanting to know who cleaned the cell, why the body was gone and where it was, and why there was no proper reference to the fire in the occurrence book. You could hear them. That’s when we were ordered back into our cells and the doors locked.”
He said the next day they were told Bester committed suicide because of a break-up with his girlfriend. “But we knew that was wrong. He did not have a girlfriend. He was not married and had no children.”
He said warders told him there was a major cover-up and that a body had been smuggled into the prison two days before through the kitchen, where it was stored in the fridge.
Another prisoner, who was in custody with Bester at Leeuwkop prison, and who was transferred with him to Mangaung prison, said that shortly before the first explosion a body was wheeled into Bester’s cell.
A senior prison official said he had testified numerous times about what had happened and how Bester and others “bankrolled” prison officials’ lifestyles.
Another warder said Bester was found with nearly R10,000 cash while he was in isolation.
“It was never written up though. I came in and was told this is what happened. I said it must be reported, but I discovered that it was not. Two days later he was gone.
“I also discovered that the cameras in the unit were either turned away from Bester’s cell and that some in the unit were turned off. Again this was meant to be reported in the occurrence books, but they were not.
“We discovered that certain cell doors, including Bester’s, were opened just before the first explosion. No matter what, if a cell door is opened it must be recorded in the occurrence book. That’s because if there is a computer system crash at least you have records.”
JICS spokesperson Emerantia Cupido said they were “deeply troubled by the evidence that had been reported.
“Once the investigation is completed, JICS will provide a report to the police, justice minister and the justice portfolio committee.”
PODCAST | Thabo Bester is a 21st century headache for correctional services
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