Dr Nandipha Magudumana case postponed to June

Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s court case challenging her arrest in Tanzania has been postponed to next month.

The matter was expected to be heard by the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Friday, but was adjourned until Thursday, 1 June.

The postponement was necessitated by the state not being able to file a response to Magudumana’s urgent application in time.

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Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was added as a 6th respondent in the case and was given until Monday to file opposing papers.

“The applicant will file [her] replying affidavit if any by Tuesday, 30 May 2023, no later than 4pm,” the judge ruled on Friday.

Heads of arguments must be submitted by all parties on Wednesday, 31 May.

Abduction

In her court papers, Magudumana is seeking an order to declare her arrest and deportation from Tanzania last month “wrongful and unlawful”.

She has argued that members of the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) “arrested and forcefully abducted me” when she was apprehended alongside convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester in Arusha on 6 April.

“The state must come to court with clean hands and such requirement is clearly not satisfied where the state is involved in the abduction of myself across the country’s borders.

READ MORE: Home Affairs issues ID to Thabo Bester

“As mentioned, the second respondent’s servants [minister of police] had no jurisdiction and/or authority to arrest and/or bring me to South Africa and charge me as they did,” her affidavit reads.

But Motsoaledi has denied Magudumana’s claims.

In a media briefing on Monday, the minister said Magudumana and Bester had been “declared prohibited immigrants in terms of the immigration laws of Tanzania and were, therefore, as a matter of law, liable to be deported to their country of origin”.

Bail application

Meanwhile, Magudumana further wants the high court to declare the arraignment in her criminal case before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court “nullified and set aside”.

She is facing 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 Prison in May last year.

Magudumana and Bester appeared in court last week and their case was postponed to 20 June to allow for further police investigations.

The other accused in the case are Magudumana’s father, Zolile Sekeleni, who is out on R10 000 bail, and former G4S employees Senohe Matsoara, Teboho Lipholo, Buti Masukela, Tieho Frans Makhotsa and Natassja Jansen.

A judgment on the five accused’s bail applications will be delivered on Monday.

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