These items allegedly went missing during his arrest alongside his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana in Tanzania in April. They were arrested by South African officials, including officials from the Police and Home Affairs.

Through his lawyer, Kabelo Matee, Bester told Magistrate Estelle de Lange on Tuesday the missing or stolen items included expensive phones, laptops, watches and hundreds of thousands of rands, US dollars, and Zambian kwacha.

He was arrested in Tanzania in April after it was found he had escaped from lawful custody in the Mangaung Correctional Centre under the guard of the controversial British Company G4S in May last year.

Bester also complained he was being subjected to inhumane prison conditions at Kgosi Mampuru II Maximum Correctional Centre in Pretoria.

He said he is being locked inside the cell for at least 23 hours a day, in cuffs. Matee told De Lange a case has since been opened at the Lanseria Police Station.

Another complaint was lodged by Magudumana's lawyer Machini Motloung. Magudumana said she was transported from the Kroonstad Correctional Centre handcuffed in the back of a police van.

As if the complaints from the two were not enough, De Lange was also informed by the lawyers of accused 1 Senohe Matsoara and accused 6 Motanyane John Masukela that the state witness number 14 had commented on both their WhatsApp and Facebook posts respectively. 

Meanwhile, accused 8 Nastassja Jansen has since changed lawyers. Lawyer Masilo Koenane, also representing Masukela, has taken over from her previous lawyer.

The identikit of another individual whose body was claimed by Magudumana. She had fraudulently claimed three bodies, including the body of Katlego Bereng. Image supplied

Bester, Magudumana, and ten others appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Tuesday. This was the first time Magudumana and Bester appeared in court together since their arrest in Tanzania. 

The suspects are accused of aiding and abetting Bester to escape from lawful custody in Bloemfontein under the guard of G4S in May 2022. The case has been postponed till 11 October 2023 for further investigation.

Three suspects, including Bester, Magudumana, and Zanda Moyo, remain in custody. Magudumana earlier reserved her right to bail and Moyo abandoned his right to bail. It's understood Moyo is in the country illegally.

Moyo assisted Magudumana in claiming the body of Katlego Bereng from the National Hospital and it was ultimately used as a decoy for Bester to escape the prison on 3 May 2022. Bester is said to have lived in luxury in Johannesburg.

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So far 12 people have been arrested in connection with his escape and ten are out on bail of R10 000 each. OFM News has also reliably learned a cell phone Bester used to make money transfers was confiscated by police from an inmate at G4S a few weeks ago. It’s since been taken for forensics.

OFM News