South Africa: I almost got away with it

^{"Facebook rapist" by John McCann/M&G}

11 April 2023
By @patjewell

South Africa is left with a red face while the world looks on

15 October 2011, after pleading guilty to various charges the “Facebook rapist”, Thabo Bester, received a life sentence for numerous crimes from fraud, robberies, rapes, and murder. After posting posters on social media platforms and websites advertising looking for models for a well-known model agency he would lure young ladies into hotel rooms where he not only robbed them but also raped them.

On 03 May 2021, it was announced by the South African Correctional Service that Bester was found dead in his cell after a fire broke out in one of South Africa’s most secured prisons.

It left South Africans stunned.

• Why was Bester moved to an isolation cell the previous week?
• How can a fire break out in an isolation cell?
• What was the cause of the fire as it was also well known that Bester was a non-smoker?
• What was the result of the DNA tests?

It was clear that the death of Bester was not what it seems. With DNA backlogs of over 70,000 cases at the time it seemed that South Africans were in for a long wait.
In the meantime, speculations were doing their rounds on social media platforms. Did Bester get away with it or didn’t he?

20 January 2023, documents leaked which confirmed that the body found in the cell was not that of Bester. It was clear that the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. The Department of Health reported in November last year that the body was still in their custody yet in the judge’s report it was handed over to his family.

As for the document that leaked the post-mortem report showed that the body that was found showed no evidence of smoke inhalation after an autopsy was completed the day right after the fire.

^{Image Source}

• Who did this body belong to?
• Where is Bester?
• Who else was involved?

25 March 2023 and for the first time the South African Correctional Service confirmed that Bester escaped from prison and most likely with the help of prison personnel. Or is there a deeper story to the Bester sage?

It came to light that the prison was serviced by a private security company, G4S who allowed Bester to run a multi-media scam business from his cell. “21st Century Media” was the “talk of the town” with celebrities attending an event called “Women in Media”. Bester himself made his appearance via video pretending that he was broadcasting from New York.

It is hard to believe that taxes paid by South Africans is spent on private companies and not on government departments. Corruption is yet again the culprit.

• Why did the public not know about the 25-year contract with G4S?
• Why is the identity of the body still not known to the public?
• Who smuggled the corpse into the prison?

After he escaped from prison Bester was this time running a successful scam construction business, “Arum Properties” together with his girlfriend Dr. Nandipha Magudumana. Bester took on the name of “Katlego Nkwana” and together the two of them got investors to invest millions in their company without seeing any returns on their investments.

If it was not for the GroundUp news agency who broke the news that Bester was spotted shopping with his girlfriend and their ongoing investigation Bester would long ago have been forgotten.

On 07 April 2023, Bester and Dr. Nandipha Magudumana after hastily fleeing the country were arrested in Tanzania after they were tracked by South African crime intelligence officers and a private security company.

South Africans are waiting in anticipation for the return of Bester who almost got away with it.