While convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester never registered with Home Affairs at any stage, he did have an American passport on him when he was found in Tanzania, following an escape of Hollywood proportions.

This was revealed in a media briefing by Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi on Friday, soon before Bester appeared in court in Bloemfontein.

Bester allegedly staged his death and escaped Mangaung prison in 2022.

Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania last week and travelled back to South Africa to face charges.

Magudumana is facing charges of aiding and abetting an escape, murder, violation of bodies and fraud. Bester's case was postponed to May 16 and he will remain in custody at the Kgosi Mampuru II Central Maximum Correctional facility in Pretoria.

Motsoaledi briefed the media on the case in terms of Home Affairs-related aspects.

He maintained that Bester was not on the Home Affairs system and said the only place where the convicted criminal’s details could be found was in the correctional services system.

“That is where you will find his fingerprint and photo but also in the South African Police Service crime data that is [also] where you will find his fingerprint and photo. Otherwise, in terms of registration in the civil manner, the only other place where you could find Thabo Bester is Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. The records say he is now thirty-seven years old,” he said.

He explained that his department visited Bester’s mother, who gave them Bester’s date of birth and revealed that Bester was born in Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, on June 13,1986.

Motsoaledi said his department checked hospital archives, which confirmed what Bester’s mother was telling them.

He stressed that Bester did not exist on the Home Affairs systems, meaning he did not have a passport at all.

“The story that he has multiple passports, Thabo does not have any passport with Home Affairs. The passport he was carrying in Tanzania appears to be an American passport, in the name of Tom Williams Kelly. Whether real, defrauded or forged we cannot tell because we do not have American systems but he [Bester] never purported or showed any passport which he said he got from us [Home Affairs] because we never gave him any,” the Minister asserted.

He went on to explain that Kelly’s passport never crossed any border at any official port of entry, whether at sea or land, and there was no indication that the passport was ever used, making it unclear why Bester was carrying the passport.

Turning to Bester’s so-called partner in crime, Motsoaledi said Magudumana never assumed the identity of Dr Mmereka Ntshani, as has been reported in the media.

Magudumana was found in Tanzania with Bester, with two passports belonging Ntshani, one of which has since expired. Ntshani has since maintained that Magudumana stole her identity.

“There is a story that Dr Nandipha [Magudumana], the one who is in jail, has assumed the identity of Dr Ntshani. I read it somewhere in the media. That is not true. She never ever assumed that identity, she just carried the two passports of that identity and she never used them anywhere. We still do not know whether she was still going to use them or not. At no stage did she tell anybody that she is Dr Ntshani,” said Motsoaledi.

He highlighted that in 2019, Ntshani deposed an affidavit with the South Africa Police Service (Saps) declaring that her passport was stolen.

Ntshani approached the Saps again with an affidavit in March this year, saying she gave the [new] passport to Magudumana and Tk Nkwana, an identity used by Bester, to apply for a working citizenship for her in the US.

Motsoaledi clarified that it was not illegal to carry many South African-issued passports, saying the department must be given valid reasons why another passport was issued when the other was still in existence.

Magudumana appeared in court alongside co-accused, Integration CCTV technician Tebogo James Lipholo.

Proceedings were adjourned and the case remanded until next week for Magudumana and Lipholo’s bail applications.