Bester, along with his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana and others, appeared in the High Court in Bloemfontein this morning in connection with his 2022 escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre. The postponement will allow Magudumana’s Constitutional Court bid to be heard before the trial proceeds, while she continues to challenge her extradition from Tanzania after the couple’s arrest there in April 2023. 

ActionSA has called for Magudumana to be held fully accountable for her role in the case.

The party’s Free State chairperson, Patricia Kopane, emphasised the significance of the SCA ruling, which she said is a vital step towards restoring justice in South Africa.

“This ruling reaffirms that South Africa is no refuge for those who commit heinous crimes under the cloak of professional respectability. Her bid to escape accountability has failed, and she must now face the consequences of her role in the Thabo Bester escape and the murder of a young man whose family still awaits justice,” Kopane said.

Bester, Magudumana, and the other co-accused face a total of 38 charges, which include serious allegations of fraud, corruption, money laundering, assisting an inmate to escape, violation of a corpse, arson, and defeating the ends of justice.

Family of the late Katlego Bereng Mpholo had expressed how the initial glimmer of hope for swift justice quickly faded as the court dates kept being postponed. His body was used as a decoy during Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Maximum Correctional facility in 2022.

OFM News/ Kekeletso Mosebetsi mvh