The Public Protector’s devastating investigation on charges of inappropriate conduct by correctional services staff indicated that they were complicit in the escape of Facebook murderer and r@pist Thabo Bester.
Advocate Kholeka Gcakela’s report also looked at claims of undue delay and omission by the previous corrections deputy minister.
At the time of the ingenious escape, Ronald Lamola was the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, and his deputies were John Jeffery and Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa.
The Public Protector’s Office commenced its inquiry in March 2023 in response to the events at the Mangaung Correctional Centre ten months earlier. Since then, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald has ordered the reassignment of involved personnel, as well as final written warnings.
In her report, Gcakela found that correctional services officials Roseline Phahlane and Chris Mahonono committed improper conduct by taking six months to report the escape.
Among others, the report found:
- The allegation is substantiated that there were undue delays by the DCS [Department of Correctional Services] functionaries to [report] Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC);
- The investigation revealed that in the early hours of 3 May 2022, a fire broke out inside Bester’s cell; and
- The incident was attended by [prison] officials, who notified the police and, on their arrival, pointed out the charred body to them.
Recognizing Gcaleka’s account, Groenewald mentioned that the authorities in question had been reassigned.
The last written warnings, according to department spokesperson Euné Oelofsen, were issued because the officials did not disclose the escape in a timely manner.
Following their arrest in April 2023, Bester and Nandipha Magudumana, along with Magudumana’s father, are awaiting trial alongside their co-accused. The trial date for this case is February 10, 2025.
