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Dr Nandipha Magudumana is scheduled to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court this morning to argue that her arrest was illegal. On April 7, Magudumana and her fugitive boyfriend, Thabo Bester, were apprehended as they approached the Kenyan border.
She is charged with 12 counts in connection with Bester’s escape from the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Facility in the Free State.
Magudumana filed an urgent court case last month, claiming she was kidnapped. Magudumana’s allegations have been disputed by government institutions, who claim she was apprehended on South African soil.
According to the State, Magudumana was not arrested in Tanzania, nor was she detained or held in handcuffs during the flight. The State also stated that she was never blindfolded.
According to law expert Elton Hart, who spoke to eNCA, while it was up to the court to decide, the State and Department of Home Affairs might defend the application’s urgency.
He said it would be advisable for the matter to be put to bed now rather than come up later in the trial.
Regarding the allegations that there were SA police officers present at the time of Magudumana and Bester’s arrests, Hart said that when Tanzanian officials handed the couple over to South African officials, it had been a matter purely between immigration departments.
Hart said the case hung on technicalities. He said Magudumana could pin her case on the process when she and Bester were taken from Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro Airport to the Lanseria Airport.
“What do they call that? So there I think there might be technical arguments that detention and apprehension there are declared illegal. That’s where they might zoom in. Other than that, Nandipha doesn’t have a chance. If she can’t get her unlawful detention in that space of time, she has no case,” he said.
Hart said that having reviewed the documents of the arrest, the Tanzanians appeared to have covered themselves in how they did the process on their side until Kilimanjaro Airport.
“I think our people then tried to say that her being handed over to the secretary at Kilimanjaro, she’s on SA soil, that is not true. The mission is on South African soil, not Kilimanjaro Airport, so there’s another technical thing they might attack,” he said.
The answer to the technicalities, according to Hart, could be heard in court in due time. Anton Katz SC, a skilled advocate, will represent Magudumana.