It’s the end of the road for Thabo Bester and “the good doctor” Nandipha Magudumana. Their plans were cut short in Tanzania by a routine roadblock. Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed that the pair returned to South Africa today, Thursday 13 April and that they are in police custody. This timeline shares details of the suspected accomplishes who made the escape possible.
Click on the image to read how Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha were captured
17 March
Track and Trace teams locate Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana in Bulawayo.
19 March
The pair is said to be heading towards Tanzania, via Zambia.
4 April
The last known hideout of Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana in Hyde Park is raided by Police and Forensics, two weeks after they left the property.
7 April
Tanzanian officials arrest two South Africans and a Mozambican national in Arusha. They are followed while leaving a hotel in a black SUV.
7 April
A 65-year-old is arrested at his home in Port Edward in connection with the Thabo Bester escape.
8 April
A 39-year-old former G4S employee is arrested at his home in Bloemfontein.
Reports suggest that Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana have been arrested. Photos of Thabo Bester sitting on the floor wearing a turban start circulating. It’s understood that he and Magudumana were posing as tourists in Tanzania.
An urgent media briefing is called by the Ministers of Police and Justice and Correctional Services confirming the arrest of Thabo Bester, Dr Nandipha Magudumana and an unnamed Mozambican national. Police Minister Bheki Cele states that they were apprehended 10km from the Kenyan border and that they were found with several passports on them – none of which had been stamped. Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola says they will investigate Bester’s “real name”.
9 April
Senior police sources tell TimesLive that the arrests were “sheer chance” and took place at a “routine roadblock”, contradicting claims by Minister Cele that the arrests were part of a high-level operation by Interpol and Crime Intelligence.
10 April
A high level delegation led by SAPS Deputy National Commissioner responsible for policing, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, arrives in Arusha Tanzania. They meet with Tanzanian officials to finalise the details of bringing Bester and Magudumana back to SA to face justice.
10 April
Police announce the weekend arrests of the two other suspects in connection with Thabo Bester over the weekend.
11 April
The two men arrested over the weekend in Port Edward and Bloemfontein appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court. They are identified as 65-year-old Zolile Sekeleni, Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s father, and Senohe Matsoara, a former G4S employee. Both are charged with four counts, including arson, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and the murder of “an unknown adult male person” around the 3rd of March 2022 at or near Bloemfontein.
A 44-year-old man who works as a CCTV technician is arrested. He faces charges of aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, and violation of a dead body.
12 April
A 28-year-old male driver is taken into custody for questioning after he is found driving a Porsche Cayenne vehicle believed to belong to wanted suspect, Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
13 April
Bheki Cele confirms that Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana have returned to South Africa.Dr Nandipha Magudumana appears in Bloemfontein Magistrate Court. Case remanded to Monday 17 April.
