Police Minister confirms Thabo Bester was arrested and then released while on the run! South African Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has confirmed that convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, also known as the “Facebook Rapist,” was detained and subsequently released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) after his escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022.
Despite the fact that police detained Bester for speeding just months after his prison break, procedural lapses and delays in inter-departmental communication ultimately allowed him to evade recapture until a year later.
Detained and Released: Bester’s Brief Encounter with SAPS
In a statement responding to Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament Nicholas Gotsell, Mchunu explained that Laingsburg traffic officers apprehended Bester on July 12, 2022, for speeding. At the time, the officers had no knowledge that Bester, who presented a fraudulent ID in the name of Katlego Nkwana, was one of South Africa’s most wanted fugitives.
GroundUp, a South African investigative publication, later revealed that Bester had been living under this alias, using it to build a life outside prison and carry out multiple scams to defraud people out of millions of rands.
When the police officers stopped him, they identified the ID document as fraudulent but failed to connect Bester to his actual identity. Bester was released on a notice to appear in court—a summons he never followed. In response, two police officers were issued final written warnings for letting Bester go, a decision Mchunu has since criticized. He explained that while the SAPS had not yet set up a specific “track and trace” team for escaped prisoners at that time, officers should have detained Bester until they verified his identity.
Confusion and Delays in Investigating Bester’s Escape
Mchunu’s statement on the incident has sparked significant criticism, particularly given that the SAPS already had concluded by June 2022 that Bester had likely escaped. When Bester was initially found missing in May, a burnt body was discovered in his cell, which led police to assume he had committed suicide.
However, the autopsy results contradicted this assumption, revealing that the person was dead before the fire began, changing the case from a suicide to a murder investigation.
Adding further complexity, Bester’s romantic partner, Nandipha Magudumana, made a legal bid to claim the charred remains. However, in June, DNA tests showed that the body in the cell did not match Bester’s biological mother, conclusively proving that Bester had indeed escaped.
Despite this, SAPS officials claim that procedural regulations required them to wait for the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to formally open an escape case before they could pursue further action.
Bureaucratic Delays in Raising the Alarm
The DCS was reportedly slow in addressing Bester’s escape and relaying essential information to other agencies. According to reports, the department’s Director of Contract Management, Roseline Phahlane, only notified the national commissioner of correctional services of Bester’s escape in November 2022, a full five months after the DNA confirmation.
Chris Mahonono, the department’s controller at Mangaung Correctional Centre, waited until January 2023 to file an official escape case with SAPS. Both officials have since received written warnings and been reassigned.
Public Scrutiny and GroundUp’s Exposé
The delays in handling Bester’s case came to the public’s attention when GroundUp published an exposé in March 2023, bringing his escape and the procedural failures within SAPS and DCS to the spotlight.
The report, published on March 17, sparked public outrage, leading to swift action from both departments. Within a week, on March 24, 2023, SAPS and DCS finally assembled a dedicated “track and trace” team to locate and apprehend Bester. This team, working with international partners, tracked Bester down to Tanzania, where he was captured on April 8, 2023.
The Aftermath and Calls for Reform
Following Bester’s re-arrest, SAPS and DCS faced widespread criticism for failing to act sooner. Many have questioned why a dangerous fugitive could evade authorities for so long, despite multiple red flags and procedural warnings.
In response, SAPS has pledged to implement more rigorous checks and processes to ensure a similar situation does not occur again. Minister Mchunu has also vowed to strengthen the coordination between police and correctional services to improve tracking and response efforts for escapees.
The case of Thabo Bester has underscored critical gaps in South Africa’s justice system, particularly around inter-agency communication, procedural transparency, and accountability.
The delays in raising alarms and acting on escape suspicions led to Bester living freely for nearly a year, jeopardizing public safety and undermining confidence in SAPS and DCS. Though Bester is now behind bars, the lasting impact of this high-profile case remains a stark reminder of the need for reform in South Africa’s law enforcement and correctional systems.
