{"id":25260,"date":"2023-04-19T16:46:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill"},"modified":"2023-04-19T17:53:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T17:53:45","slug":"minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill","title":{"rendered":"Minister defends Thabo Bester\u2019s E1.4 million flight bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>The deportation of convicted Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana cost the South African government E1.4 million. Interestingly, SA Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has defended the costs.<\/b><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Press reported that Motsoaledi told the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs that they had to charter a flight to bring the pair back at the cost of E1.4 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can fly from here to Dar es Salaam and other places and pay E6 000. Which commercial flight do you think would have accepted [Bester]… and then passengers seated comfortably seeing two people in handcuffs entering an aircraft with several people to make sure they don\u2019t run away\u201d, the minister was quoted as having said.<\/p>\n

According to News24, Motsoaledi was adamant that the state agencies involved in bringing Bester back to the country had made the right choice.<\/p>\n

South African Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. Picture: GCIS<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any aircraft company would have allowed that situation. I don\u2019t remember where thugs of this nature flew around the world on commercial [passenger] flights. We have never deported anybody on a commercial flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motsoaledi reportedly joked that had Bester been brought back on a commercial flight, he would have made the headlines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we did that, you Members of Parliament would be tearing me apart for being careless. We took the cheapest flight. This was the best option than going with a commercial flight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bester appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate\u2019s Court on Friday for the first time since he was recaptured after his escape last year, and he will be back in court on May 16.<\/p>\n

Dr Magudumana, who was Bester\u2019s accomplice, also appeared in court for her alleged role in helping him escape from prison. Magudumana\u2019s father Zolile Sekeleni was granted E10 000 bail in the Bloemfontein Magistrate\u2019s Court.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. The deportation of convicted Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana cost the South African government E1.4 million. Interestingly, SA Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has defended the costs. On Tuesday, Press reported that Motsoaledi told the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs that they had to charter a flight to bring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-25260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\nMinister defends Thabo Bester\u2019s E1.4 million flight bill - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The deportation of convicted Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana cost the South African governmen ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minister defends Thabo Bester\u2019s E1.4 million flight bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The deportation of convicted Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana cost the South African governmen ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T16:46:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T17:53:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900134.10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Minister defends Thabo Bester\u2019s E1.4 million flight bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-19T16:46:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-19T17:53:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill\"},\"wordCount\":330,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900134.10.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/minister-defends-thabo-besters-e1-4-million-flight-bill\",\"name\":\"Minister defends Thabo Bester\u2019s E1.4 million flight bill - 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