Magudumana takes fight for freedom to the ConCourt

In May, the SCA in Bloemfontein dismissed her bid to have her 2023 arrest and return to South Africa declared unlawful.

Magudumana, who is accused of aiding convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester in his dramatic escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre in 2022, was captured with Bester in Arusha, Tanzania, in April 2023.

The pair had been on the run before they were extradited and brought back to South Africa.

The majority of the SCA bench dismissed her appeal, though the court did note a dissenting judgment that supported her argument.

While the SCA ruled in the State’s favour against Magudumana’s bid to have her arrest in Tanzania declared unlawful, Justice Tati Makgoka had a dissenting view.

In his view, the handing over of Magudumana by Tanzanian authorities to South African home affairs officials was unlawful, with him arguing that there was no such procedure in international law.

He also agreed with Magudumana that this process was a disguised extradition, which was unlawful, as South African authorities had not taken the steps for an extradition.

Meanwhile, speaking to SABC News, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga says they will adopt a very cautious approach.

"We will adopt a very cautious approach given the fact that we received the petition this evening (Monday) around six, and therefore we still have to put heads together with our legal team. However, we can confirm that we will file an opposition within 10 days because remember from the date the judgment was delivered, there are 15 days within which to file the petition.

"We take the view firmly so that the process of deporting Dr. Magudumana from Tanzania in 2023 to South Africa was a seamless, above-board process with no untoward conduct on the part of the team that escorted her. We are also very much aware that there was a defending judgment, a minority judgment that rolled in their favor. However, the majority judgment is in our favor.

"You must understand that the South African law is such that it's evolving and advancing from a jurisprudence point of view and you can put five lawyers in one room and give them one question, they'll give you three different answers. So, it's in the nature of the legal system that you will get that. So, we're not shaken.

"We think we're on solid ground in vigorously arguing for the dismissal of the appeal, starting with the lift to appeal because we think that it is meritless and stands to be dismissed."

Magudumana and Bester face 38 charges, including fraud, corruption, money laundering, aiding and abetting an escape, arson, violating a corpse, and defeating the ends of justice – along with seven other co-accused.

The charges relate to the elaborate prison break that led to Bester’s escape and their subsequent flight across borders.

Mhaga added that Magudumana's appeal to the Constitutional Court might cause a delay in the trial case.

" I am not in a position to say this is a delay in tactics, even though it has the undesirable effect of probably delaying the trial which was scheduled for the 15th of July."

ALSO READ