News24.com | Net closing in: Two more arrested in connection with Thabo Bester escape

Mangaung Correctional Centre on March 30, 2023 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This is the prison Thabo Bester escaped from.

• Two former G4S employees were arrested for their alleged role in the Thabo Bester escape plot.
• Police confirmed the pair were apprehended on Monday in Bloemfontein.
• Eight people have been arrested so far and police aren't ruling out the possibility of more arrests. 

Police have arrested two former G4S employees for their alleged role in the Thabo Bester escape plot. 

National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the two employees, who G4S had dismissed, were arrested on Monday at their homes in Bloemfontein. 

The pair will appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody and defeating the ends of justice. 

"The team investigating this case has so far arrested eight suspects," said Mathe, adding that police had not ruled out the possibility of more arrests. 

ALSO READ | Thabo Bester escape: Did Nandipha Magudumana collect the same body from the same morgue twice?

Others arrested in connection with the convicted rapist and killer's escape include Bester's accomplice and girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana, Magudumana’s father Zolile Sekeleni, former G4S employee Senohe Matsoara and CCTV technician Teboho Lipholo. Police also arrested a 51-year-old G4S employee last week.

The suspects face charges of assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, and fraud. 

Bester was serving a life sentence when he broke out of the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Centre, a maximum-security prison, in May 2022.

He was arrested in Tanzania with Magudumana and brought back to South Africa to stand trial.

Bester, who is being held at Kgosi Mampuru II Prison, is due back in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on May 16. 

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