South Africa: Man dubbed 'Facebook rapist' back behind bars

A case that has stirred both controversy and outrage in South Africa has seen the man dubbed the "Facebook rapist" placed back behind bars, after he was rearrested in Tanzania earlier this month.

On Friday, Thabo Bester made a court appearance in the heavily guarded Bloemfontein Magistrate's court situated around 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

"He at this stage faces a charge of escaping from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, violation of a dead body and fraud," police said in a statement issued on Friday.

Who is Thabo Bester?

Bester, who was convicted of rape and murder in 2012, managed to escape a maximum security prison run by British multinational private security company G4S nearly a year ago.

The convict was thought to have died in a fire in his cell in May 2022. A post-mortem and a DNA test, however, revealed the man who died in the prison fire was not Bester. Instead, the body showed evidence of blunt-force trauma to his head and no signs of smoke inhalation.

After months of reporting by the South African nonprofit news agency GroundUp suggesting that Bester was alive, authorities at last admitted that he was indeed alive and on the run last month. 

Bester and two suspected accomplices — celebrity doctor and social media influencer Nandipha Magudumana and a Mozambican national — were eventually arrested in Tanzania over a week ago.

Magudumana is facing charges of aiding and abetting Bester in his escape and also murder, violating bodies and fraud charges.

Senior officials taken to task

The question of how Bester managed to escape and who may have helped him on his way has caused consternation among many South Africans.

The Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Correctional Services tore into G4S senior management —  which ran the Mangaung Correctional Centre where Bester escaped — and senior government officials this past week.

Those in positions of authority, including the country's police minister, were grilled over the circumstances which allowed Bester's escape.

Among the key issues of concern was how it was possible for Bester to stage such an elaborate escape from a supposed maximum security facility, why video surveillance went offline on the day Bester broke free,  and why it took so long for authorities to raise the alarm when it became apparent a convicted rapist and murderer was at large.

Police Minister Bheki Cele was questioned as to why the fugitives were transported back to South Africa in a private jet. Cele explained that it was the wishes of Tanzanian officials and had been agreed upon as part of negotiations with them.

South Africa's Department of Correctional Services had to clarify on Saturday that Bester was being held at a maximum security facility in Pretoria and not the one he had initially managed to escape from.

Bester is expected to make his next court appearance on 16 May.

AFP material contributed to this report

Edited by: Darko Janjevic