Exclusive: Eyewitness accounts of Thabo Bester’s audacious prison escape

“I was involved from the beginning till the end. Matsoara promised me a fortune, but I never got anything. I know how the corpse got inside the prison and the cell. I hacked the system and turned the cameras off in Broadway and outside the building so Matsoara could bring the corpse in and leave. I also hacked the electric gate.”

Teboho Lipholo, a former technician at Integritron Integrated Solutions, the company contracted to install and maintain cameras at Mangaung maximum security prison, phoned the Mail & Guardian on 10 April to talk about his involvement in Thabo Bester’s brazen escape from the facility, run by multinational security company G4S. Lipholo quickly terminated the phone call when he realised the newspaper would not pay him for his story.

On 12 April, the police arrested Lipholo for his involvement. On Tuesday, Police Minister Bheki Cele vowed he would “leave no stone unturned” in the investigation, echoing what the government said in 2013 when the prison descended into chaos and was temporarily taken over by the state. Cele said more people would be arrested over the Bester escape.

Five suspects have thus far been arrested. On 17 April, Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, the father of Bester’s partner, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, Magudumana herself, former G4S supervisor Senohe Matsoara and Lipholo appeared before a magistrate. A fifth suspect, G4S security guard Motenyane Masukela, appeared in court on Thursday.

Sources have told the M&G who else can expect a knock on the door from the police over the events of May 2022.

Two former and one current G4S guard, a G4S vocational trainer, a G4S activity officer and four inmates who say they were eyewitnesses to the crime because they were in adjacent cells in the isolation unit known as Broadway, have spoken to the M&G, providing a detailed overview of what allegedly transpired in the run-up to, and on the day of the escape, Tuesday 3 May 2022. 

The preparation

On Friday 29 April 2022 at about 5pm, Matsoara drove a bakkie, allegedly hired by Sekeleni in Boksburg, past the sally port into the prison compound. The vehicle was allowed into what is known as the “sterile area” between the administration building and the prison site. It was allegedly transporting a TV stand made of wood and a corpse wrapped in plastic was hidden behind the stand.  

The car drove up to the vocational building situated to the right of the admin building, also known as the “industries”, where inmates do woodwork, including repairs to TV cabinets, under the supervision of vocational trainers. 

The corpse was then allegedly brought inside by two G4S employees who work on the emergency support team (EST) and whose identities are known to the M&G but will not be revealed because there is an ongoing police investigation. 

The G4S employees and inmates who spoke to the M&G claim the corpse was not hidden in the TV stand, as previous media reports have suggested, but that the piece of furniture was instead used as a decoy.

An inmate in the vocational building saw the two emergency support team members carrying an object in a plastic bag and also claims he saw security manager Thembinkosi Dondolo waiting for them at the entrance of the building. He opened up the doors to the building for them. Matsoara, with the help of Integritron’s Lipholo, allegedly deposited the corpse into a big moveable dustbin and transported it into the back of the vocational building, where it remained overnight.

Matsoara did not work weekends, but Lipholo did, so he was tasked with monitoring the corpse in the dustbin over the weekend. The vocational building is situated right next to the Broadway unit. 

Bester was in cell 35 of the unit. Lipholo allegedly moved the body in the dustbin from the vocational building to Broadway the next day. 

On Monday 2 May, Matsoara was back at work and in the early hours of 3 May, Matsoara then put the corpse in a wheelchair, wheeled it into Broadway and then he lugged the body up to the first floor of the unit, according to the G4S employees and the incarcerated eyewitnesses. Lipholo allegedly made sure the CCTV cameras outside and inside the Broadway unit were deactivated. Lipholo himself corroborated this.

He was not the only person facilitating the escape. Many more people were involved. A custody officer, whose identity is known to the M&G, told the woman responsible for monitoring vehicles and people entering the compound that she should take a coffee break, just at about the time that Matsoara was arriving. G4S suspended this custody officer and according to the G4S employees, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) arrested him as he showed up for work at the prison on Tuesday morning, 18 April. 

In a statement, the police confirmed the arrest of a G4S employee at Mangaung prison on Tuesday for “assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody”. Motenyane Masukela appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Thursday on the charge.

Because the bakkie in the 2022 escape arrived at about 5pm during a long weekend holiday period, it was considered after hours. The security protocol at the prison dictates that incoming traffic can then only be permitted in case of an emergency. The supervisor in charge of monitoring incoming traffic — whose identity is known to the M&G — therefore did not allow the vehicle to enter the prison premises that evening. 

A false disturbance call then sent him to the Buckley Hall unit, during which time Matsoara got another G4S official to approve the entrance of the bakkie with the TV stand and the corpse. Security manager Dondolo and operations manager Anneke la Grange were the G4S managers who officially could approve these movements. G4S has suspended the guard who refused to allow the bakkie into the prison compound, as well as the two G4S officials who were in the central control room at the time. 

A vocational worker, whose name is known to the M&G, allegedly handed the key of the vocational building to the two emergency support team guards who carried the corpse wrapped in plastic and the wooden TV stand into the vocational workshop. G4S apparently also suspended this worker. 

Dondolo and La Grange were mentioned during the recent parliamentary discussion about Bester’s escape. 

One of the G4S sources said he saw Dondolo seated in the flashy Volkswagen T-Roc 2.0 Matsoara bought and boasted about on his Facebook profile. “There is no way Matsoara could do what he did without the help of Dondolo. They were mates and drinking buddies, very close,” the source said.

“The bakkie came in after hours and the operations manager then always needs to be informed because after hours, movement is only allowed in case of an emergency, that is how protocol works in Mangaung prison,” the former and current G4S workers claimed. 

In Broadway

Inside the prison, inmate Bongile David Mbangane was held in a cell in the Broadway unit. He requested to speak on the record for this article, believing that a public profile affords him safety. 

Mbangane has been a vocal whistleblower about conditions at Mangaung prison for years. The Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services confirmed it had received complaints from him. 

Mbangane and three other anonymous eyewitnesses who were in a cell in Broadway said they observed what happened next.  

“Bester arrived in Broadway on Saturday 30 April. There was someone else staying in cell 35.” 

According to Mbangane, the emergency support team arrived in the unit, including the two men who had helped Senohe carry the plastic bag with the corpse and the TV stand into the vocational area. They removed the cell 35 inmate by force, placing him in cell 47. Shortly thereafter, Bester arrived and was taken to cell 35.

At 2am on Tuesday 3 May, Mbangane woke with a shock. “We heard a big explosion. All inmates in the section woke up and we all opened the flaps on the little window in the cell door. There was a very strong smell of petrol.” Mbangane was in cell 14, on the ground floor of Broadway. 

“A G4S guard, who I just know by the name of Tebogo, appeared, accompanied by Matsoara, and they walked up the stairs to the first floor where cell 35 is, each approaching from different sides. Matsoara was busy on his phone the whole time. I called out to the guy I know as Tebogo. He told me that he was on duty and asleep and the explosion had woken him. Tebogo later told me Matsoara had ordered him to leave Broadway and to head to the Wolds unit, where Tebogo was supposed to accompany an inmate to the bakery.” This was about 3am. 

After Tebogo left, a second, bigger explosion rocked Broadway at about 3.30am, again waking inmates. 

“There was a lot of smoke, because this time there was a blazing fire. But I heard no screaming coming from cell 35. I did hear inmates shouting: ‘It’s burning!’ But no one in cell 35 had pressed the emergency button. There was no help. Matsoara and Tebogo appeared again and walked up to cell 35, Tebogo descended to fetch a fire extinguisher. Matsoara disappeared and reappeared with nurses. “We could hear him say, ‘he is dead, this one.’”  

The Sunday Independent reported that records showed Matsoara exited the prison at 3.45am and returned at 4.05am. It is during this time period that Bester could have been smuggled out.  

There were two G4S workers in the central control room — whose identities are known to the M&G — who opened the doors of Broadway for Matsaora as he dragged the corpse into the isolation unit and exited later with Bester. G4S dismissed these two employees and admitted it had done so when company representatives were grilled in parliament.  

The cover-up 

Shortly thereafter Mbangane claims he saw the correctional services department controllers appear in the Broadway unit. Mbangane and the other incarcerated eyewitnesses claim these visitors arrived between 5am and 6am. After 7am, according to Mbangane, two police constables arrived, who told him that the person in cell 35 had been burned beyond recognition. 

The police then carried out an investigation, but according to Mbangane and the other eyewitnesses, the officers wanted to know what the inmates had seen, and there was no follow-up questioning. 

In the previous decade the Bloemspruit police station has not followed up on a single case reported by prisoners, even though widespread torture, murder and involuntary medication has been documented and reported to the police. The Mangaung inmates therefore did not trust the officers. 

Just before 8am, an inmate who was responsible for cleaning and serving breakfast in Broadway, and who spoke to the M&G off the record, was called to bring a fire extinguisher to cell 35 by Matsoara and Dondolo. “I saw the body and I said immediately to them that this is not Bester, because Bester was a light skinned guy and this guy was dark and shorter than Bester. Bester always wore an expensive Rolex watch and there was no watch.” 

“If I die for the truth, so be it”

The cleaner had stayed in a cell next to Bester for a long time and knew him well. The body was lying on the floor with a laptop and cell phone in his hands. “They told me to shut up and leave and fetch a fire extinguisher.” The fire, by this time, was still smouldering. “The books above the bed and the bedding were undisturbed but the body had fallen out of the bed? There were no wounds on the body. How was this possible?”

Brigadier Dingiliswe Fothoane, of Bloemspruit police station, arrived at about 8am accompanied by Dondolo, the G4S security manager. This is when the Broadway eyewitnesses claim that the police actively helped with covering up the evidence of the crime. “We called out to Fothoane, to tell him that we had heard no screaming when the fire broke out. Dondolo said to Fothoane: ‘leave them, they’re mad’.” Mbangane and the other three eyewitnesses saw Dondolo and Fothoane go inside cell 35 and close the door. 

The next thing Mbangane saw was an emergency support team member carrying a stretcher up the stairs. “There was a white plastic bag on the stretcher. There were no pathologists or doctors present in Broadway, just Dondolo, Fothoane and approximately eight G4S employees. Dondolo and Fothoane put gloves on, went inside the cell and came out again with the corpse under the plastic. 

“Around 10.15 I saw the mortuary guys come in and they took the body. This was done very quickly. It usually takes a whole day for the body to be investigated and picked up when an inmate dies in Mangaung,” the cleaner says. They didn’t use the stairs, so he and Mbangane claim, they allegedly left through the emergency exit, right in front of cell 35. 

“Around half past 12, Dondolo asked me and another inmate to clean the cell. He instructed us to take the ashes and throw them in the garbage. An hour later, we were still busy cleaning the cell, scrubbing the floor, getting rid of all evidence. The police later showed up and wanted to know where the evidence, the ashes, were. I said Dondolo had instructed us to clean the cell and throw ashes away. They covered up and destroyed the evidence by using me,” the cleaner claims. 

Dondolo called the cleaner again and this time asked him to bring a 25 litre bucket. “Dondolo put an evidence bag in the bucket with the cell phone, laptop and a box with sneakers. I brought the bucket down to the office, and left it in front of the door. They took it,” the cleaner says. 

Some time later, Mbangane and the other eyewitnesses claim, Dondolo reappeared with Dereck de Klerk, the director of operations at Mangaung prison. They entered cell 35 together. 

The three G4S employees who still work at the prison and who spoke to the M&G anonymously, claim they overheard De Klerk openly defending Matsoara at the prison, in the days before G4S was called to testify in parliament.  

Shortly after the officials left, Mbangane saw other cleaners and Dondolo arrive back at the cell. Under his supervision they cleaned cell 35 with hot water and soap, despite a thorough police investigation not having taken place. 

The next day, Mbangane and the cleaner said they witnessed how “the entire Broadway unit” was painted with white paint, ostensibly to cover any trace of evidence. 

After Bester left the prison, clad in a G4S uniform, an emergency support team member, whose identity is known to the M&G, was allegedly waiting for him in a Polo Vivo. According to the G4S workers who spoke off the record, this emergency support team guard is allegedly on the run. 

In a 2019 Facebook profile, in similar fashion to Matsaora, he can be seen showing off his brand-new Volkswagen in 2019. A former emergency support team guard who had worked alongside him in the prison, claimed: “He always loved the high life. He was pompous and dodgy.”  

The aftermath

What will happen to the wide network of people involved in the calculated escape from Mangaung prison, remains to be seen. The Hawks are currently arresting G4S officials, but it is unclear if the entire network will be nabbed and who exactly has chosen to run. 

Regarding the CCTV footage at the prison on 3 May 2022, Singabakho Nxumalo, the spokesperson for the correctional services department, commented: “DCS requested the video footage from G4S as the facility is mounted with video cameras. G4S responded that the system is only able to keep footage for seven days.” 

But Mbangane claims the correctional services department told him they had seen CCTV footage of Matsaoara leaving the prison with Bester. The M&G has seen an internal email exchange between G4S employees, dated 24 May 2022, referring to Mbangane and the other inmates demanding access to CCTV footage of 3 May. “The video footage is the property of G4S and will therefore not be made available to inmates, but to bodies/organisations whose responsibilities require such access.”   

Mbangane also wrote to Judge Nokuthula Daniso, the president of the Free State high court. On 12 October 2022, Daniso visited Mangaung prison to interview Mbangane. She told him she personally visited the mortuary where she found out the DNA of the corpse didn’t match Bester’s and the court therefore decided to change the charge from suicide to murder. Her report was leaked and Groundup reported on it in January 2023. 

“If I die for the truth, so be it,” Mbangane now says.  

On 2 November 2022, Mbangane and the other two eyewitnesses were transferred to Grootvlei prison. 

At Grootvlei, Mbangane was in for a shock. “The inmate who had made a statement in support of G4S claiming Bester committed suicide because of relationship problems, was placed in a communal cell with us.”  

Mbangane was then moved to Groenpunt prison. The cleaner was also transferred to another prison. He claims that Matsoara promised him he would be reclassified from maximum to medium security in exchange for his silence. “He told me he was friends with the DCS controllers at Mangaung prison and they would arrange it.” This transfer happened because the inmate phoned the M&G from a medium security prison in a small town in the Free State.

The police were not able to confirm or deny that the suspects, whose identities are known to the M&G, will be arrested: “Our investigations have reached a very sensitive stage. We cannot at this stage provide intricate details of evidence gathered thus far. More arrests in this case are imminent and as such we won’t comment any further.” 

A G4S spokesperson told the M&G: “G4S is prevented by the provisions of the Correctional Services Act and its contract with DCS from speaking publicly re the prison.” 

Ruth Hopkins is an independent investigative journalist who wrote Misery Merchants about Mangaung prison. She also worked on the film Prison for Profit and she set up www.privatesecurity.network, a transnational network of journalists investigating the private security sector.