Reports indicate that convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana enjoyed luxury holidays at a hotel in Bloemfontein just weeks before his escape from the Kgosi Mampuru II correctional facility in Pretoria.
Bester and Magudumana returned to South Africa on Thursday.
The Facebook rapist staged his own death with the assistance of Magudumana in order to facilitate his escape from the Mangaung Correctional Complex (MCC) in the Free State.
According to The Sunday Times, the couple stayed at the Tredenham Boutique Hotel, which is only 25 kilometres from the MCC, in March and April, using one of Bester’s identities, TK Nkwana.
SurgeZirc SA reported last week that Bester was using at least 19 identities when he brazenly escaped from the MCC, one of which being TK Nkwana.
According to the Sunday Times report, Bester and Magudumana remained at the hotel for four nights, checking in on Thursday, March 24, 2022 and checking out on Monday, March 28.
The hotel’s owner, however, stated that their booking system revealed the pair had stayed an additional night, checking out on Tuesday, March 29, and returning two weeks later, checking in for one night on Wednesday, April 13.
Hotel owner Gavin Jacobson confirmed the invoice’s validity, stating that the reservations were made online through the booking.com service.
“We have extensively questioned the staff, and no-one could recall any details around the guest(s) and if Dr Nandipha Magudumana was accompanied by anyone.”
Several staff members acknowledged Bester had slept there with Magudumana but had no idea who they were until police arrived to interview management.
In response to questions, Correctional Services spokeswoman Singabako Nxumalo told the paper: “There are no day nor weekend passes allowed at Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Senior executives from G4S, the corporation in charge of maintaining the Bloemfontein jail where Bester did his time, spoke before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services last week, and were interrogated by outraged MPs who wanted to know how Bester escaped from the MCC.
Joseph Monyante, the director of the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC), An authorised laptop and an unlicensed mobile were discovered by police in Bester’s destroyed cell, according to the two-day Parliamentary inquiry.
A day later, prison staff “raised concerns in respect of a smell of petrol emanating from the deceased’s possessions”.
Allowing Bester to keep a personal laptop, according to African National Congress (ANC) MP Xola Nqola, may have enabled him to commit crime while in prison.
Nqola alleged that there were rumours that Bester was conducting a multi-million-rand business from his cell and inquired about Bester’s authorised laptop.
G4S regional director Cobus Groenewoud informed the committee that inmates were permitted to use laptop computers.
“Inmates who are registered students have the right…they have the right if they are registered with a formal institution of learning to have access to a laptop and for that reason inmate Bester had access to that laptop,” said Groenewoud.
Bester appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Friday after he and Magudumana were deported to South Africa from Tanzania on Thursday after being apprehended last week near Arusha on their way to Kenya.
Bester was remanded in custody until May 16, while Magudumana was charged with murder, fraud, and aiding and abetting Bester’s escape on Thursday.
The murder and fraud allegations stem from the body that was smuggled into the prison and set ablaze in order to aid Bester’s escape.
Magudumana is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday, April 17.
Reports indicate that convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana enjoyed luxury holidays at a hotel in Bloemfontein just weeks before his escape from the Kgosi Mampuru II correctional facility in Pretoria.
Bester and Magudumana returned to South Africa on Thursday.
The Facebook rapist staged his own death with the assistance of Magudumana in order to facilitate his escape from the Mangaung Correctional Complex (MCC) in the Free State.
According to The Sunday Times, the couple stayed at the Tredenham Boutique Hotel, which is only 25 kilometres from the MCC, in March and April, using one of Bester’s identities, TK Nkwana.
SurgeZirc SA reported last week that Bester was using at least 19 identities when he brazenly escaped from the MCC, one of which being TK Nkwana.
According to the Sunday Times report, Bester and Magudumana remained at the hotel for four nights, checking in on Thursday, March 24, 2022 and checking out on Monday, March 28.
The hotel’s owner, however, stated that their booking system revealed the pair had stayed an additional night, checking out on Tuesday, March 29, and returning two weeks later, checking in for one night on Wednesday, April 13.
Hotel owner Gavin Jacobson confirmed the invoice’s validity, stating that the reservations were made online through the booking.com service.
“We have extensively questioned the staff, and no-one could recall any details around the guest(s) and if Dr Nandipha Magudumana was accompanied by anyone.”
Several staff members acknowledged Bester had slept there with Magudumana but had no idea who they were until police arrived to interview management.
In response to questions, Correctional Services spokeswoman Singabako Nxumalo told the paper: “There are no day nor weekend passes allowed at Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Senior executives from G4S, the corporation in charge of maintaining the Bloemfontein jail where Bester did his time, spoke before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services last week, and were interrogated by outraged MPs who wanted to know how Bester escaped from the MCC.
Joseph Monyante, the director of the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC), An authorised laptop and an unlicensed mobile were discovered by police in Bester’s destroyed cell, according to the two-day Parliamentary inquiry.
A day later, prison staff “raised concerns in respect of a smell of petrol emanating from the deceased’s possessions”.
Allowing Bester to keep a personal laptop, according to African National Congress (ANC) MP Xola Nqola, may have enabled him to commit crime while in prison.
Nqola alleged that there were rumours that Bester was conducting a multi-million-rand business from his cell and inquired about Bester’s authorised laptop.
G4S regional director Cobus Groenewoud informed the committee that inmates were permitted to use laptop computers.
“Inmates who are registered students have the right…they have the right if they are registered with a formal institution of learning to have access to a laptop and for that reason inmate Bester had access to that laptop,” said Groenewoud.
Bester appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Friday after he and Magudumana were deported to South Africa from Tanzania on Thursday after being apprehended last week near Arusha on their way to Kenya.
Bester was remanded in custody until May 16, while Magudumana was charged with murder, fraud, and aiding and abetting Bester’s escape on Thursday.
The murder and fraud allegations stem from the body that was smuggled into the prison and set ablaze in order to aid Bester’s escape.
Magudumana is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday, April 17.