Nandipha Magudumana’s bid to challenge arrest to be heard on Friday

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has confirmed the urgent application by Dr Nandipha Magudumana, to declare her arrest and detention unlawful, will be heard in the Bloemfontein High Court on Friday.

Magudumana‘s lawyer, Machini Motloung, filed urgent court papers in the Bloemfontein High Court last week seeking to declare her arrest, “abduction” and deportation last month in Tanzania “wrongful and unlawful”.

Urgent application

The matter was supposed to beard on Thursday.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga told The Citizen the matter will now be heard on Friday.

“The urgent application launched by Dr Nandipha Magadumana in the Free State High Court against the director of public prosecutions, the minister of police, the magistrate and correctional services will be heard on Friday, 26 May, at 10am.”

ALSO READ: Thabo Bester: ‘Dr Nandipha said she was being held against her will’

Victim

Magadumana and Bester were caught and arrested in Arusha in April and were extradited to South Africa on a private jet.

The Citizen at the time revealed that Magudumana initially told Tanzanian authorities that she was being held against her will by convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester.

According to a Tanzanian source, Magadumana and Bester gave statements to Tanzanian authorities after their arrest.

“She was being held against her will by him. That was her response in her initial arrest questions, that’s what she said.”

Charges

Magudumana faces multiple charges including fraud, defeating the ends of justice, and assisting an inmate to escape from prison in connection with Bester’s daring escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) in May last year.

Her co-accused, including Bester, are her father Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, former G4S employees: Senohe Matsoara, Buti (Motenyane John) Masukela, Tieho Frans Makhotsa and Nastassja Jansen, as well as Integriton CCTV technician, Teboho James Lipholo.

Escape

Bester escaped from the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022, after it was initially believed that he had died by suicide after setting himself alight in his cell.

An investigation revealed that the charred body that was used as a decoy in the escape was that of Free State resident Katlego Bereng.

ALSO READ: Nandipha Magudumana wants her arrest in Tanzania declared ‘wrongful and unlawful’