Cope National spokesperson, Dennis Bloem, told OFM News that Magudumana must face the music. This comes after the Free State High Court Judge Phillip Loubser delivered his much-anticipated judgment on Monday 5 June 2023 and dismissed Magudumana's urgent application to the High Court. 

Loubser said when Magudumana told officials she wanted to be reunited with her children, she gave consent to be brought back into the country by the officials. Bloem said Magudumana has a case to answer about the alleged aiding and abetting.

"The charges against her are very serious. This judgment, once again, proves that our courts are independent and will apply the law without fear or favour. The escape of Thabo Bester from the Mangaung prison cannot be treated lightly." 

Bloem adds all those who aided Bester in his daring escape on 3 May 2022 must be arrested and face the full might of the law because people have lost their lives.

Advocate Neil Snellensburg, representing the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions, told Loubser on Thursday 1 June 2023 that the urgent High Court application is a self-created "urgency".

Adv. Joubert Zietsman, representing Home Affairs, said Magudumana failed to make the case that she was arrested in Tanzania by members of the police, that she was abducted by the police, and transported back to the country by them.

"The facts respectively show that the applicant was arrested in Tanzania by Tanzanian officials for breaching the Tanzanian Immigration Act and that Tanzanian authorities exercised the discretion to deport the applicant to her country of origin, namely South Africa," Zietsman added.

The state, in its papers filed before the court on Monday 29 May 2023, argued that Magudumana was arrested on 13 April at Lanseria airport by officials who were not part of the Tanzanian mission.

A Human Rights Commission lawyer, Adv. Anton Katz (SC), earlier told Loubser that the state was not playing open cards with Magudumana during her arrest in Tanzania.

He said the state needed Magudumana's consent to be brought back to the country.

Adv. Katz, who is representing Magudumana pro bono, said the state should have told her of the options, which included whether she should be brought back to the country by either extradition or with her consent. He earlier told the court that his client's liberty was at stake.

Magudumana filed urgent court papers at the High Court claiming that her arrest in Tanzania in April 2023 was unlawful and unconstitutional.

Whilst in custody in Tanzania, Magudumana allegedly told the officials that she wanted to be reunited with her children. Snellensburg said Magudumana only revealed her intentions to come back home to South Africa after the Tanzania authorities arrested her and gave her three days to leave the country. He criticised Magudumana's allegations that she was arrested by SAPS officials. Snellensburg said she was never arrested nor handcuffed in Tanzania by the police. Instead, she was handed over to the High Commissioner by Tanzanian authorities.

Magudumana was arrested in Tanzania, alongside her fugitive boyfriend, Thabo Bester. They were brought back to South Africa on 13 April 2023. They were both detained by the SAPS. Bester was then transferred to Kgosi Mampuru Maximum Prison Centre in Pretoria and 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 is accused of aiding and abetting Bester to escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre under the guard of the British company G4S.

She allegedly claimed three bodies, one being the body of Katlego Bereng from the National Hospital, which was ultimately used as a decoy for Bester to fake his death and escape from prison on 3 May 2022. Bester is said to have lived in luxury in Johannesburg.

So far eight people have been arrested in connection with his escape and two are out on bail of R10 000 each. Four others were denied bail by Magistrate Mohlolo Khabisi on Monday 29 May 2023.

The case was then postponed to 20 June 2023 for further investigations.

OFM News