Johannesburg - Police have confirmed that two former G4S employees have been arrested for their alleged involvement in Thabo Bester’s escape. They are expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The employees were arrested on Monday at their place of residence in Bloemfontein, Free State.
“The team investigating this case has so far arrested eight suspects and cannot rule out the possibility of affecting more arrests,” said police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe.
Katlego Bereng-Mpholo will be buried this weekend, according to Free State Health MEC Mathabo Leeto.
Bereng-Mpholo’s charred remains were found in Bester’s cell at the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Bester faked his own death in his cell in May last year and was on the run, aided by his lover, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, and others, until he was recaptured.
Bester and Nandipha were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, last month after the celebrity doctor and the rapist skipped the country.
Bereng-Mpholo’s family has yet to get answers on how their son’s body ended up in Bester’s cell.
Leeto visited the grieving family in Bloemfontein last week and confirmed that he would be buried on May 7.
“We were received well by the family, and the reason for our visit is that we wanted to pay homage, say their pain is our pain, and also express our disappointment and our concerns about what has happened at our facility because the body of the deceased was stolen at our facility in Bloemfontein,” said Leeto.
She said they informed the family that her department was investigating to verify whether all the necessary procedures for releasing the body were followed.
Bereng-Mpholo, according to his family, went missing around March last year, which prompted his father, Batho, to urge his grandmother, Matsietsi Ralilateng, to register a case of a missing person.
DNA from the burnt body and Bereng-Mpholo’s mother, Monica Matsie, was compared, revealing that it was him.
“The family is not doing well, but I think the Social Development Department together with our own social workers are visiting to give them support during their bereavement because, as human beings, no one can take it easy when their loved ones have been missing for such a long time, and when he is discovered, he is found in a state like Katlego's, and they have many questions that are not yet answered,” Leeto said.
“I do believe that police are conducting investigations, and it is our wish that everyone who has information will co-operate with police so that the truth can come out.”
Leeto said her department had already started an internal investigation into where the ambulance went to fetch Bereng-Mpholo’s body.
“It is alleged that his body was collected by our own ambulance to the hospital, and from there the body was stolen allegedly by Magudumana,” said Leeto.
According to reports, Magudumana claimed two bodies from government mortuaries, saying one was her customary husband’s burnt body and the other her father's.
Magudumana is expected back in court on May 3 and 4 to apply for bail, while her father, Zolile Sekeleni, and Bester are expected back in court on May 16.
The Star