The girlfriend of the murderer and rape convict Thabo Bester will get a second shot today in the Free State High Court to argue the constitutionality of her arrest in Tanzania earlier this year.

The High Court recently granted Nandipha Magudumana a new date for leave to appeal a High Court judge’s decision, which dismissed her application to have her arrest in Tanzania declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

Magudumana is among twelve suspects nabbed by the Free State police for aiding and abetting her boyfriend to escape from lawful custody while at the Mangaung Correctional Centre, under the guard of the British company G4S, on May 3, 2022. After his escape, Bester is said to have lived in luxury in Johannesburg.

She is also one of only three suspects who remain in custody.

Magudumana argued that her arrest in Tanzania in April 2023 was unlawful and unconstitutional. At the time of her arrest, she was alleged to have been in possession of at least three passports.

She said she was kidnapped and brought back into the country through disguised extradition.

Her lawyer, Advocate Machini Motloung, previously confirmed they will be back at the Free State High Court today, to argue for leave to appeal Judge Phillip Loubser’s decision.

Loubser said claims that Magudumana had instructed a lawyer in Tanzania to fight ‘unlawful’ detention is struck because it’s not mentioned in her founding affidavit. He said evidence showed Magudumana did give consent.

While in custody in Tanzania, Magudumana allegedly told the officials that she wanted to be reunited with her children.

Magudumana was arrested in Tanzania alongside her fugitive boyfriend, Bester. They were brought back to South Africa on April 13. They were both detained by the SAPS.

Bester was then transferred to the Kgosi Mampuru Maximum Prison Centre in Pretoria, while Magudumana was sent to the Free State, where she made her first appearance in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court.

She has been in custody ever since her detention. She earlier reserved her right to a bail application.

She allegedly claimed the body of Katlego Bereng from the national hospital, and it was ultimately used as a decoy for Bester to escape the prison on May 3, 2022. She also claimed the body of another man, whose identikit has been released by the Free State police.

She allegedly claimed the body of this unknown individual on April 8, 2022. He was later found by the police on the 28th of the same month last year.

The body was found at Modder River, allegedly with a tag still intact, just a few days before Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre under the guard of G4S.

According to police spokesperson Motantsi Makhele, the body of this unknown individual was first found on Lovedale Road, Bloemfontein, in a hit-and-run on October 9, 2021.

Source: OFM