Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said he will be in court when Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s legal team appear for an urgent application to have her arrest from Tanzania declared unlawful.
Briefing the media on Monday, Motsoaledi said the department only managed to access Magudumana’s court papers on Sunday afternoon adding that the DG Livhuwan Makhode was shocked the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Minister were not cited as respondents on the matter.
“This is despite that on 15 May 2023 there was correspondence between the DG and Motloung Attorneys, representing Magudumana. They wrote us letters and then they went to court without citing Home Affairs,” he said.
Motsoaledi further highlighted that Makhode responded to the application by writing back to Magudumana’s attorneys to demand its retraction from the urgent roll.
“The letter corrected two wrong statements by Magudumana that she was unlawfully abducted or extradited from Tanzania. Dr Nandipha and Thabo Bester were declared prohibited illegal immigrants according to the Immigration Law of Tanzania. They were therefore, as a matter of law, liable to be deported back to their country of origin,” he added.
Magudumana, also believed to be convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester’s lover, and one of the suspects in the case of aiding and abetting Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022, launched an urgent court application last weekend to dispute her arrest.
She is also facing charges that include fraud, violation of a corpse and defeating the ends of justice. Her urgent application is expected to be heard by the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Her legal argued that she was forcefully abducted by South African police and are asking for the judge to declare her arrest as unlawful.
Citing Tanzania’s Sovereignty, she also wants to be released from prison immediately and for the judge to nullify all orders and warrants against her, pointing out that none of the respondents, in particular, South African police had jurisdiction to arrest anyone there.
Bester and Magudumana were arrested last month in Arusha, Tanzania after they fled the country. They were apprehended along with a Mozambican national who has since been deported back to his native home.
Motsoaledi told the media that in terms of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, the department obtained legal advice to revoke Magudumana’s passport.
