The court application by Nandipha Magudumana, the alleged lover of convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester, for what she says is her unlawful arrest was “ill-advised” and should be withdrawn, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said, adding that her passport would be revoked.
Motsoaledi also said at a media briefing on Monday that Bester — who was a fugitive after his jailbreak from a Free State prison before his arrest in Tanzania last month alongside Magudumana — had been assisted by home affairs officials to be issued with an identity card for the first time in his life.
He said the department’s investigation into Bester included interviewing his biological mother, reviewing Bester’s birth records from Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, and data stored in the department of home affairs’ systems.
“The outcome of the investigation revealed that, despite Thabo Bester having attained the age of 16 years, he has not applied for an identity card as required in terms of the law,” Motsoaledi said, adding that the department’s director general, Livhuwani Makhode, took immediate steps, from 15 May, to help Bester apply for an identity card.
“Thabo Bester cooperated with the said officials, who also required his mother to sign the necessary application forms, and the old lady did sign. As a result of the said process, Thabo Bester was issued with an identity card on 17 May 2023.
“His name has now been entered into the national population register, thus ending many years of his status as an unidentifiable person,” Motsoaledi explained, showing journalists a copy of Bester’s birth certificate and identity card.
On revoking Magudumana’s passport, Motsoaledi said the department had obtained a legal opinion that the department had “strong grounds” to revoke it.
The minister added that his department’s director general would take the necessary steps to revoke the passport, which was due to expire in February 2027, “because she no longer deserves to be having it”.
This comes after Magudumana launched an urgent application in the Bloemfontein high court to declare her arrest unlawful, alleging that she was “abducted” from Tanzania before being extradited to South Africa.
Motsoaledi said he and Makhode were “shocked” to discover that the department and its minister were not cited as respondents in that matter, despite the department having exchanged correspondence with Magudumana’s attorneys at Motloung Inc from 15 May.
“Then that they go to court without citing home affairs — it shocked us,” Motsoaledi said, adding that Makhode had sent a letter to Magudumana’s attorneys, telling them that they erred in not citing the department, and that their urgent application was “ill-advised”.
“Dr Nandipha Magudumana and Thabo Bester were declared prohibited immigrants in terms of the immigration laws of Tanzania, and were, therefore, as a matter of law, liable to be deported back to the country of origin, which is South Africa,” Motsoaledi said.
The Mozambican in Bester and Magudumana’s company had also been deported back to his country, the minister added.
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