Facebook rapist’s escape deeply embarrassing for state

It reads like the script of an enthralling film. A convicted rapist and murderer runs a fake media company from a maximum-security prison, poses as the business’s chair, stages his own death in his cell after setting his mattress alight and then escapes. This is the story of Facebook rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, who has been living under the noses of high society in Johannesburg with his socialite doctor girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana, since last year, and is on the run again.

News of Bester’s secret escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre — despite his apparent suicide in the cell fire — emerged last week after GroundUp came across a photograph of him shopping at a Woolworths store.

This was a month after correctional services announced his death, only to confirm at the weekend that DNA taken from the body of the man found burnt beyond recognition in Bester’s cell on May 3 2022 did not match that of Bester’s mother.

It has since emerged that Bester, who is believed to have escaped on the day of the fire, has been living large in Johannesburg, under the name Katlego Tom “TK” Motsepe Nkwana.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Bester signed lease agreements and had video calls with property managers from prison.

It was also reported that the couple rented several houses in upmarket suburbs, leaving tens of thousands of rand of debt as well as trashed properties in their wake.

Though it makes for fascinating reading, the elaborate scam run by Bester while in prison — through some slick marketing, his scam business, 21st Century Media, was made to look like a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, based in New York — is a serious indictment on the state.

How was he allowed to obtain and operate computer and other equipment to pull off the ruse?

Even worse, why did it take officials so long to pick up that his death had been faked?

Either some correctional services officials were in cahoots with Bester in pulling off the colossal scam, or it was gross negligence and incompetence on their part, or both.

The department has now appealed to the public to assist with any information that may lead to Bester’s rearrest.

It is mind-boggling that it sat on this information for days, even as members of the public posted photos of Bester on social media. This gave him ample opportunity to escape.

The state has been found wanting yet again. This does not bode well for citizens’ confidence in its ability to keep convicted criminals behind bars.