Dr Nandipha Magudumana has appealed her bail refusal by the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court.

Magudumana's legal defence lawyer, Machini Motloung, approached the Free State High Court on Wednesday (01/11) to challenge the bail refusal by acting Magistrate Estelle de Lange.

Motloung argues Magistrate De Lange misdirected herself and erred when she refused Magudumana bail. When refusing her bail in August this year, De Lange said Magudumana was a flight risk and nothing could potentially stop her from planning another Thabo Bester prison escape. Magudumana’s legal team supplied the High Court judge with at least 17 grounds as to why their client must be granted bail. Judgment was reserved.

In the documents before the High Court, Magudumana, through her lawyers, said: “The court erred in finding that when Magudumana left the country, she knew that she most probably would not return.

“The court misdirected itself in finding that the appellant, knowing it to be false, supplied false information at the time of arrest.

“The court erred when prematurely pronouncing the merits reserved for the trial court and finding that the appellant would have more opportunities and means to assist Mr Bester to escape. In doing so the court failed to take into consideration that there was no evidence to support its findings. It is also noteworthy that the court failed to properly analyse the evidence before it and unfairly placed undue weight on the aspects not tendered in evidence by the respondent.”

Dr Nandipha Magudumana in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court. Photo: Lucky Nkuyane

Magudumana is among nine suspects arrested for aiding Bester to escape. 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.

Her lawyers, during her bail application at the Magistrate’s Court, accused the state of lying and contradicting itself on the affidavit of the state witness and the charge sheet.

Magudumana and Bester fled the country via Zimbabwe and were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, en route to Kenya. They were brought back to the country in April 2023 where she appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court and was remanded in custody. 

Bester was transferred to the Kgosi Mampuru II Maximum Centre in Pretoria.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane Corné/