Motsoaledi insists Dr Nandipha’s arrest legal
THE DEPARTMENT of Home Affairs is challenging Dr Nandipha Magudumane’s urgent court application regarding her arrest in Arusha, Tanzania.
Minister Aaron Motsoaledi insisted at a media briefing yesterday that Magudumana was lawfully deported from Tanzania in April.
Magudumana, the girlfriend of convicted killer and rapist Thabo Bester, filed an urgent court application at the Free State High Court on Friday in a bid to declare her arrest in Tanzania and subsequent deportation to South Africa for detention unlawful. She also alleged that her arrest was as good as an “abduction”.
Her matter will be heard in court on Thursday.
Magudumana and Bester were arrested in Tanzania on April 7 and subsequently deported to the country, a trip that cost the state a whopping R1.4 million. According to authorities, the pair used fake passports.
According to investigations, Bester was aided in his escape from the Mangaung Correctional Facility in the Free State last year by Magudumana, her father, Zolile Sekeleni, and five G4S security officials.
“I need to explain this. You are aware that in Tanzania, three passports were found on Magudumana; two of the passports belonged to Dr Mmereka Patience Martha Ntshani, and one belonged to her. It is a valid passport; this is the passport we are revoking in terms of the law because she no longer deserves to have it,” said Motsoaledi.
Ntshani is a celebrity doctor who goes by the name of Dr Phashy.
The medical doctor wrote a ceaseand-desist letter to Motsoaledi; she wanted him to apologise for the statement he made about her connection to Bester’s escape.
Motsoaledi apologised to Ntshani. “I therefore retract the statements and subsequent words to that effect. I would like to extend my sincere apology to her in this regard,” he said.
Motsoaledi said his department’s director-general only managed to access the court papers on Sunday afternoon.
“The DG was shocked to discover that the DHA and I were not cited as respondents in that matter. This is despite the fact that on May 15, 2023, there was an exchange of correspondence between the director-general and Motloung Inc, attorneys of record for Magudumana,” said Motsoaledi.
He added: “The DG immediately addressed a letter dated May 21, 2023, to her attorneys, raising objections to the non-joinder of the DHA and me and demanding that the ill-advised application be removed from the urgent roll. The letter corrected the wrong stance adopted that Magudumana was unlawfully ‘abducted’ or ‘extradited’ from Tanzania.
“Magudumana and 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 their country of origin.”
Motsoaledi also revealed that his department planned to revoke Magudumana’s passport.
Criminal law expert Ian Allis said he did not believe that Magudumana’s challenge had merit.