An estate agent who assisted fugitive Thabo Bester and his celebrity-doctor partner Nandipha Magudumana find properties said he was tricked into believing that Bester was a UK-based businessman called TK Nkwana.
He said he realised only last week that “Nkwana” was actually one of South Africa’s most wanted criminals, the Facebook rapist and killer who has been on the run since last year.
The agent, who asked not to be named, said he had helped “TK Nkwana” and Magudumana find two properties in Johannesburg, including the luxury mansion in Hyde Park.
The agent said he got the initial call from a UK-registered number one morning in 2021. It was from a person identifying himself as TK Nkwana, a South African based in England.
"He said he was working in England and was looking to get property for his wife who is in the country," the agent said. "We arranged for a viewing and he said the wife would be the one coming to view the place.
“Nandipha [Magudumana] came on the day of the viewing. It was then that I learnt that she is a famous doctor. I was mostly in contact with TK [Bester] and he would be calling with a UK-registered number.”
He said Magudumana liked the property and the pair signed a lease agreement. But “Nkwana” was never seen at the property. At the time, Bester was already in prison serving time for the murder of a woman and the rape of several others he had lured through Facebook.
A year later, Magudumana told the agent that they needed bigger space as “Nkwana” would be returning home from England. The agent then assisted them in securing the up-market luxury mansion in Hyde Park. It was at about the same time Bester escaped from prison after an apparent body swop in a big fire.
After almost a year at their Hyde Park home, the couple vacated the house on Monday.
The agent said a “mafia style” scene played out on Tuesday when a group of armed men, claiming to be operating on instruction from the couple, stormed the house with a removals truck to pick up their furniture. They allegedly also removed items that belonged to the property owner which led to a scuffle with security.
Police have launched an investigation into the mysterious Mangaung prison escape almost a year after his jail break in 2022, .
On the day of a fire in a solitary cell belonging to Bester, a charred body of a man was found under the bed. Officials said it was Bester’s.
Despite GroundUp’s reports on a man resembling Bester being spotted at a shopping centre in Sandton two months after the fire, the department of correctional services insisted that the body they found was Bester’s and they were investigating only the cause of his death.
However, police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said police insisted that DNA tests be conducted to ascertain if the dead man was indeed Bester.
“The SAPS organised crime investigations unit is leading investigations based on preliminary investigations that indicated that this was well organised and planned,” Mathe said.
“The investigation entails and relies on a number of persons of interest, stakeholders and entities. Based on the complexity of the case, the SAPS would not want to divulge much into the merits of the case.
"The focus of the investigation is on apprehending the fugitive of justice; apprehending all those involved in the escape from lawful custody," Mathe said.
"The SAPS crime intelligence unit remains on the ground and is following up on all possible leads.”
Detectives from the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, and the organised crime investigations units in the Free State and Gauteng have been tasked to find Bester and to get to the bottom of how he managed to escape.
Mathe said a case of escaping from lawful custody was also registered on confirmation by the correctional services on Saturday that Bester was not in their custody. The likelihood of more charges being added cannot be ruled out as the probe unfolds.
Neighbouring stores at the Sandton centre where Magudumana runs a medical aesthetic business said the store had been operating as normal, but Magudumana has not been seen in two weeks.
“She usually comes in once or twice a week, but we have not seen her in the past two weeks,” a shopkeeper said.
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
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