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

Dr Nandipha Magudumana, the alleged accomplice and girlfriend of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, is challenging her arrest in Tanzania.

Thabo Bester prison escape

Magudumana has filed urgent court papers in the Bloemfontein High Court seeking to declare her arrest, “abduction” and deportation last month in Tanzania “wrongful and unlawful”.

The matter is expected to be heard on Thursday.

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Magudumana‘s legal team has not yet disclosed the grounds on which they will be arguing for her release from prison. However, in a notice to court, she wants “to declare the arraignment before the current magistrate [Mohlolo Khabisi] in the criminal case nullified and set aside.”

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 Mangaung Correctional Centre in May last year.

Court appearance

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.

On Tuesday, Bester and Magudumana made a virtual appearance in court and their case was postponed to 20 June to allow for further police investigations.

The pair were remanded in custody until then, while Sekeleni is out on R10 000 bail.

RELATED: Thabo Bester changes lawyers as case postponed to June

The other co-accused appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday for their bail hearing. The matter was postponed to next week for closing arguments.

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.

Bester and Magudumana were arrested last month, in Tanzania, after fleeing South Africa.

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