Africa-Press – South-Africa. Thabo Bester’s celebrity doctor partner, Nandipha Magudumana, and Integritron Integrated Solutions (IIS) employee Teboho Lipholo appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for allegedly helping Bester escape from prison.
They are accused number three and four after G4S guard Senohe Matsoara and Magudumana’s father, Zolile Sekeleni, accused one and two, respectively, appeared in court on Tuesday.
Bester is the fifth accused on the charge sheet.
There is some confusion over whether he will appear in court on Friday, with a senior official in Bloemfontein saying he would be in court.
But National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said Bester would not be appearing as he was already a convict and did not need to make one.
IIS is contracted by G4S to install and maintain cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) where Bester escaped from.
On Wednesday at Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services’ hearing, IIS director Litichia Pedro said Lipholo had made several admissions during a polygraph test last month.
The test was conducted after cameras at the MCC were unplugged from the surveillance system on 3 May 2022, when Bester is believed to have escaped.
A police statement said Lipholo faced a charge of “aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice as well as violation of a dead body”.
Magudumana arrived in Bloemfontein on Thursday escorted by heavily armed Tactical Response Team members, after she and Bester were extradited from Tanzania where they had attempted to flee.
Magudumana and Lipholo’s case was postponed to Monday when they will join accused one and two in the dock.
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