DCS will place 24/7 surveillance on Thabo Bester during Kgosi Mampuru stay

The correctional services department says captured fugitive Thabo Bester will be placed under 24/7 surveillance, as it confirmed he's being detained at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria following his successful deportation back to South Africa.

DCS gave this update on Thursday morning during a briefing headed by justice minister Ronald Lamola and Bheki Cele on the deportation process in bringing Bester and his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana back to SA.

The couple were brought back to South Africa from Tanzania in the early hours of Thursday morning by a high level delegation led by Home Affairs.

The duo, along with a Mozambican national, were arrested over Easter en route from Arusha to the Kenyan border.

Magudumana and Bester landed at Johannesburg's Lanseria airport on a specially chartered flight.

Lamola gave a brief update on the arrival of the duo, confirming their arrival in SA.

"We can confirm that these fugitives have been returned to South Africa. Bester has been readmitted into the Kgosi Mampuru Central Maximum correctional facility and Dr Magudumana is under arrest, pending her first court appearance.

Three more people have so far been arrested in connection with Bester's escape from Mangaung prison on May 3, 2022.

Magudumana’s father, Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, was arrested at the weekend at his Port Edward home while former prison warder, Senohe Matsoara, was arrested in Bloemfontein by a multidisciplinary team investigating Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre.

The duo appeared at the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Tuesday facing charges of aiding and abetting Bester in his audacious escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre last year.

They are also accused of arson, fraud and defeating the ends of justice.

A third person, 44, was arrested in  Bloemfontein on three charges of aiding and abetting, defeating the ends of justice and violating a dead body while a fourth person found driving a white Porsche believed to belong to Magudumana was taken into police custody for questioning, according to national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.

The suspect is a 28-year-old man. He was arrested in the North West. The vehicle was seized by the Gauteng SAPS Tracking Team in Lichtenburg, North West.

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