Dr Nandipha Magudumana faces several criminal charges after she was arrested with her lover Thabo Bester in Tanzania, on Friday evening.
More details surface in Dr Nandipha and Thabo Bester Tanzania arrest
The police and justice ministries held an emergency press briefing on Saturday, hours after news surfaced that South Africa’s most-wanted lovebirds, the deregistered doctor and her murder-slash-rape convict Bester, were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, on Friday evening.
According to authorities, the couple was captured with a third suspect, a Mozambican man whose identity has yet to be unveiled, about 10km near the border of Kenya.
Early indications suggest Bester and Dr Nandipha, who were caught with several fake and unstamped passports, along with the alleged assistance of the Mozambican suspect, may have been attempting to flea to Kenya on Friday night.
In a statement, national police spokesperson Liranzdu Themba confirmed the process to extradite the fugitive couple was underway and “an official delegation from South Africa comprising of senior officials from the police, justice and Correctional services will depart for Tanzania tomorrow, [where] they will be received and assisted by the office the High Commissioner in Tanzania.”
“We are confident that we will receive maximum cooperation from our sister nation of Tanzania, to assist us to bring these fugitives to justice. The level cooperation has been exemplary thus far,” Themba added.
What charges will Dr Nandipha face?
While at the centre of the epic developments unravelling in Tanzania is the convicted serial rapist and murderer, eyebrows have risen over Dr Nandipha’s culpability in the series of crimes committed in the brazen prison break.
Since Bester’s daring escape, the Facebook rapist has relied on the assistance of well-connected and influential outsiders. Investigative work compiled by GroundUp suggests Dr Nandipha not only played an advanced role in Bester’s escape, but she could also be complicit escorting her lover across the border.
Earlier this week, shocking video footage captured by private investigators showed Dr Nandipha’s cold and unmoved demeanour when she was questioned about her motive behind driving a R1.35 million car into Zimbabwe and dumping it near the border before returning back to South Africa.
Moreover, investigations into the deregistered doctor’s movements shortly after Bester escaped from prison in May 2022 could hold clues into her alleged culpability in smuggling, considering court documents prove she had submitted a bid to collect the charred corpse initialy thought to be the Facebook rapist as the customary wife.
More shocking, however, Police Minister Bheki Cele, during Saturday’s media briefing, confirmed Dr Nandipha had, in fact, submitted claims to collect three dead bodies at the time, a move which drew suspicion into the bizarre fire that broke out of Bester’s prison cell at the Mangaung max security facility.
With evidence mounting against Dr Nandipha, police confirmed that, at this time, the disgraced mother of two will be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive, while in Tanzania, she could be indicted for entering the country illegally.
Bester, on the other hand, will be at the centre of murder charges linked to the charred corpse found in his cell, which, it turns out, was not his.
“A case of murder is under investigation following the outcome of the DNA analysis that confirmed that the body of the deceased which was found, was not of Thabo Bester. The autopsy report went on to further reveal that the deceased had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, and was already dead, prior to the arson incident,” police confirmed.
Reactions to Thabo Bester and Nandipha’s arrest
Social media took off into a frenzy when news of Bester and Dr Nandipha’s arrests surfaced. Here are some of the reactions we picked out: