Magistrate Estelle de Lange will on Monday decide whether Nandipha Magudumana, accused of a string of charges including breaking out her lover and convicted criminal Thabo Bester, should be granted bail or not. Her defence lawyer, Adv. Machini Motloung, said it's in the interest of justice that the accused be let out on bail. 

Adv. Motloung argued before Magistrate De Lange on (31/8) that the state's charges against the suspended medical practitioner did or did not constitute a Schedule 5 offence but instead Schedule 1. 

They have since accused the state of decorating charges against Magudumana to suit the narrative that the accused isn't a suitable candidate for bail. 

But state prosecutor Sello Matlhoko also argued Magudumana was a mastermind in the escape of Bester, who was serving a life sentence for murder and rape. He said Magudumana fetched Bester from KZN after his daring escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, under the guard of British security company G4S in May 2022. 

Matlhoko also told the court the Director of Public Prosecution confirmed Magudumana faces a schedule 5 offence, which means the onus was on her team to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the interest of justice permits her to be released on bail. 

On Tuesday 29 August, Matlhoko said Magudumana has no regard or respect for the law. 

He said she is looking at a lengthy jail term for her alleged role in aiding a convicted rapist and murderer to escape from lawful custody.  

The accused was nabbed in the company of Bester and another man from Mozambique in Tanzania.  

Magudumana has been in custody for almost four months after she was arrested by the Free State Serious Organised Crime Unit on 13 April.

She has since exercised her right to apply for bail after she previously reserved it. She instead took the matter of her arrest in Tanzania to the Free State High Court where her bid failed twice.

She and Bester rented a place where they made renovations and also had security personnel. Later on, Magudumana and Bester fled the country via Zimbabwe and were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, in transit to Kenya. They were then brought back to the country in April 2023 where she appeared at the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court and was remanded in custody. Bester was then transferred to the Kgosi Mampuru Maximum Centre in Pretoria. 

The two appeared together in court on 8 August for the first time since their arrest. They appeared in good spirits. However, Magudumana has since told the could Bester threatened, forced, and pressured her into the car. 

She is among 12 suspects arrested for aiding Bester to escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022. 

Nine suspects, including accused 1, Senohe Matsoara, are out on R10 000 bail. It is only Magudumana, Bester, and an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe, Zando Moyo, who remain in custody. 

The suspects face charges ranging from aiding, abetting, defeating the ends of justice, violating a dead body, and fraud. Most of the suspects were arrested by the police’s provincial organised crime unit in June and July whilst more are former G4S security guards.

Accused 1, Matsoara; Accused 3, Teboho James Lipholo; and accused 7, Tieho Frans Makhotsa, allegedly all received thousands of rands for aiding and abetting Bester to escape.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane