Bester escape: questions about death
The family of Katlego Bereng, believed to be the person who was found dead in murderer and rapist Thabo Bester’s prison cell, is looking for answers.
According to his family, Bereng – who also used his father’s surname Mpholo, and lived in Bloemfontein – went missing in March last year. They reported it to the police two months later, in May.
Almost a year later, the police contacted Bereng’s mother, Monica Matsie. She was asked to do two DNA tests, after which she was told that her son was dead.
South African Police Service (Saps) spokesperson Athlenda Mathe confirmed the family of the body found in the cell has been informed. Mathe said no further comment would be issued.
Bester escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre on 3 May last year by faking his death in a prison fire. Saps confirmed in parliament that three bodies were collected from the Free State mortuary by Bester’s partner, Nandipha Magudumana, the third of which was the one that was found in Bester’s cell. Police comments over the weekend imply it was Bereng’s body in the cell.
According to the post-mortem report, the person died of a blunt force injury to the head before being smuggled into the cell and burned. But Bereng’s family has received conflicting accounts from police officers about how Bereng died. One police officer told them Bereng collapsed in Bloemfontein city centre and was taken to Pelonomi hospital, while another said he was injured and died in the hospital.
Bereng’s family describe him as “tall and slender”, but the body found in the cell was 1.45m, according to the post-mortem. The average adult male height in South Africa is 1.69m.
A forensic pathologist has, however, previously explained to GroundUp that it is possible for a postmortem to get the height of a person wrong, especially since the body was in the foetal position.
It is not clear why the family has not yet been able to view the body. Saps did not respond to GroundUp’s request for comment and the Free State health department, which runs the state morgue, said it could not comment on the matter.
Bereng lived around the block from Senohe Matsoara, the prison warden facing charges of murder and aiding and abetting Bester’s escape. According to a close friend, Bereng and Matsoara both frequented a local tavern.
GroundUp visited Matsoara’s house on Monday, where his Volkswagen T-Roc R-line is still parked. TimesLive reported he is thought to have bought the car, worth about R650 000, using money paid to him to help orchestrate Bester’s escape.