"MZANSI is like a movie."
This is a line that could be used to sum-up the drama that unfolded in 2023, starting from early March when the news that the infamous convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester has escaped from prison broke.
What unfolded after the news broke, did not only leave a jaw dropping gesture, but left Mzansi and the world saying “iyoh” non-stop.
The Great Escape
Bester, who was dubbed the “Facebook rapist” made the greatest prison escape in May 2022 after faking his death at the Mangaung Correctional Service in Bloemfontein.
This gave him freedom for less than a year before he was recaptured in Tanzania.
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To have such a master plan of jail break, Bester couldn’t have worked alone. His girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana and seven other accused, which included Magudumana’s father and prison warders from a private security GS4 assisted him, were also involved in Bester's prison escape.
Impact of Bester's escape on Mzansi's prisons
His escape exposed many flaws about Mzansi’s prisons and the government at large, especially when it was revealed that the Department of Justice and Correctional Service knew about Bester's escape in October 2022 but chose to keep it hidden until investigative media company Ground Up exposed the information.
It's still unclear how long the department was planning to keep mum about the issue, although they claimed they were still investigating.
Bester was serving multiple life sentences for the multiple murders and rape charges, but while in prison, he was able to defraud people all over the world by impersonating a prominent businessman who went by different names. including Tom Motsepe.
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It's believed this is how he was able to lure in Magudumana into his evil scheme, prompting her to leave her marriage and two children to try “build” a life with the rapist.
The faked death
The drama began with Bester's fake death, using another man's body as a decoy.
Subsequent investigations into a fire at the Mangaung Correctional Centre revealed that the charred body was not Bester, but Katlego Bereng, who had died from blunt force trauma.
It has been alleged that after the fire incident, Magudumana made attempts to retrieve the body by claiming that she was the wife of Bester but that couldn't be possible for her to get body as Bester’s mother also came to claim it.
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This led to the department to do a DNA test on the body, to authenticate if the woman was indeed his mother but the results came in negative, and this raised eyebrows.
Meanwhile, the possibility of Bester escaping prison became more likely, little was done to search for him, and he continued to live his soft life in Hyde Park, north of Joburg until he was spotted shopping with Magudumana.
From luxury living to manhunt
Once Ground Up began making noise in March 2023 and this rattled the couple, forcing the authorities to come clean and start a manhunt.
The couple were arrested in the Tanzanian's city of Arusha on 7 April, in possession of multiple passports with fake identities.
Their court appearance alongside their accomplices have been filled with drama, including Magudumana allegedly collapsing in her prison cell and Bester claiming he was being mistreated and his items worth millions were stolen.
The couple and one of their accomplices were denied bail, while six other accused were granted bail. They are facing a total of 16 charges relating to Bester’s escape.
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The charges include fraud, corruption, violating bodies and assisting an escape.
Legal heavyweights and trial ahead
Magudumana tried to apply for bail twice, on claims that Bester forced her to escape the country after he threatened her. But that theory was dismissed by the magistrate, looking at how well kept Magudumana looked during her court appearances, stating that she did not seem like a person who was forced to be part of the crime.
Bester and Magudumana have called in legal heavyweights including Advocate Dali Mpofu and Advocate Zandile Mshololo to represent them, and their trial is scheduled to commence on 21 February 2024 in the Free State High Court.
