Tebogo James Lipholo appeared alongside the disgraced Dr Nandipha Magudumana on Thursday, where both accused were remanded in custody.
Who is Tebogo James Lipholo?
Lipholo appeared visibly distressed when media photographers crowded the docks, where he nervously sat next to Magudumana, who, at that point, had found stillness in the chaos surrounding her name since her epic arrest in Arusha, Tanzania, on Friday 7 April 2023.
At their first court appearance, Lipholo was registered as accused 3. At the same time, his co-defendant was listed as accused 4, in a case involving Magudumana’s father, Zolile Sekeleni and former G4S employee Senohe Ishmael Motsoara as co-conspirators in Thabo Bester’s prison break.
Lipholo, a talented IT technician was allegedly roped into the plot as a crucial cog in helping Bester escape from one of the most secure prisons in South Africa, the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, Free State.
From what we understand, around the time of the escape, Lipholo worked for IT company Integritron contracted by the G4S-managed correctional centre to install and manage CCTV cameras at the prison.
Depending on the plea he enters, state prosecutors will seek to prove Lipholo received substantial money to manipulate Mangaung’s cameras on the night of the escape.
We already know via G4S’ grilling in Parliament on Wednesday that, based on several high-level investigative reports, Mangaung prison cameras stopped recording between 19:38 on Monday, 2 May 2022, and 04:11 on Tuesday, 3 May 2022, around 90 minutes after a fire had broken out of Isolation Cell 35, where Bester was kept.
Lipholo will return to court on Monday, 17 April 2023, alongside Magudumana, her father and Motsoara.
Dr Nandipha arrest: Here are the latest updates
Unlike her co-accused, Magudumana made her first court appearance with legal representation. The disgraced doctor sat quietly as state prosecutors registered the slew of serious charges she faces and noted her defence attorneys.
Not only is Magudumana accused of multiple murder charges, but state prosecutors believe she played a central role in aiding Bester’s prison escape and funding his fugitive lifestyle.
Dr Nandipha will return to court next week, alongside her father, to hear if she and her co-accused will qualify for bail applications.
Elsewhere, police are questioning a 28-year-old male believed to be Magudumana’s bodyguard, who was arrested in the North West in possession of the disgraced doctor’s white Porsche Cayenne, which authorities seized.
At this juncture, the unnamed man is treated as a person of interest until further evidence implicating him in Bester’s escape surfaces.
Addressing the media on Thursday morning, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola issued a chilling warning to anyone with links to Bester’s escape:
“Anyone who knows that they are involved in this case is warned to hand themselves over to the authorities. Either they hand themselves in or we will fetch them ourselves,” he said.
Bester, from what we understand, is under 24-hour surveillance, with several heavily armed officials within arm’s reach, at the C-Max section of Kgosi Mampuru prison.
