Johannesburg - The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) plans to revoke the passport of Dr Nandipha Magudumana, the girlfriend of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester.
According to investigations, Bester was aided to escape from the Mangaung Correctional Facility in Free State in 2022 by Magudumana, her father Zolile Sekeleni, and five G4S security officials.
Magudumana and Bester fled South Africa after information surfaced that he was wanted by authorities for his brazen escape.
Just after his escape, a civilian is believed to have taken photographs of the couple while they were paying for groceries at a Johannesburg supermarket. That image led to shocking revelations, including that Bester did not die in cell 35 as the Department of Correctional Services reported in May 2022; in fact, the charred body was that of a father of two young children, Katlego Berent, 32.
According to authorities, the pair used fake passports, and they were nabbed in Tanzania on April 7, 2023, and subsequently deported to South Africa. The trip cost the state a whopping R1.4 million.
“The Department of Home Affairs has obtained legal advice that there are strong legal grounds to revoke the passport of Dr Magudumana and that firm action must be taken to that effect,” said DHA Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
He said the director would be taking two legal steps in terms of the South African Passports and Travel Documentation Act No 4 of 1994, read with relevant regulations, to revoke the passport issued to Magudumana on February 16, 2017, which is due to expire on February 15, 2027.
Asked why Magudumana’s passport should be revoked, Motsoaledi responded that it is required by law.
“I need to explain this. You are aware that in Tanzania, three passports were found on Magudumana; two of the passports belonged to Dr Mmereka Patience Martha Ntshani, and one belonged to her. It is a valid passport; this is the passport we are revoking in terms of the law because she no longer deserves to have it,” said Motsoaledi.
Ntshani is well known as a celebrity doctor who goes by the name of Dr Phashy.
The medical doctor wrote a cease-and-desist letter to Motsoaledi; she wants him to apologise for the statement he made about her connection to the Bester escape. She denied any involvement in Bester’s escape.
Magudumana on Friday filed an urgent court application to the Free State High Court in a bid to declare her arrest in Tanzania and subsequent deportation to South Africa for detention unlawful.
She also alleged that her arrest was as good as “abduction”.
Motsoaledi on Monday also confirmed that department officials were part of a multi-disciplinary delegation that went to Tanzania to bring Magudumana and Bester back to the country after they were declared illegal immigrants there and were ordered to leave the country within three days.
He said there was nothing illegal about the process and that there was “something sinister” about the fact that Magudumana did not cite the DHA or minister in the latest court papers, which Motsoaledi said they only managed to get their hands on late on Sunday afternoon.
He said the department was only made aware of Magudumana’s court bid via media reports over the weekend and has since written to Magudumana’s lawyers, insisting the department be cited in the case.
Mostoaledi said Bester had been issued with an identity card last week, and his name had now been entered into the National Population Register, ending many years of his status as an unidentifiable person.
Additional information by IOL.
The Star