By Alicia Mmashakana
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) decision to dismiss Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s immigration appeal on Friday.
Magudumana was captured in Tanzania in 2023 while on the run with her lover and accomplice, convicted killer Thabo Betser, for allegedly assisting and abetting his escape from the Mangaung prison, where he was serving a life sentence.
Magudamana was seeking to have the charges against her dismissed after her legal team approached the SCA in response to the Free State High Court’s June ruling that she had consented to her April 2023 return to South Africa, which she alleged was an illegally disguised extradition.
“The NPA is committed to ensuring that justice is not only done but manifestly seen to be done because of the alleged crimes’ impact on the rule of law and the victims,” NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said.
In June 2023, the high court dismissed Magudumana’s application for her arrest and deportation from Tanzania in April 2023 to be declared unlawful and set aside.
Mhaga said the prosecution team would now focus on ensuring that the trial set down for 21 July to 19 September 2025 before the high court proceeded without any unreasonable delay.
Magudumana and Bester face 38 counts ranging from fraud, corruption, money laundering, assisting an inmate to escape, violation of a body, arson and defeating the ends of justice.
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