Prisons breaks

The extraordinary movie-style prison break of the “Facebook rapist”, Thabo Bester, has shone the light on loopholes and corruption within the department of correctional services (DCS), which enable multitudes of convicted and awaiting trial prisoners to escape from jail.

Bester, who was serving a life sentence for murder and rape at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in the Free State, reportedly died in his cell during the early hours of the morning in May last year.

According to a statement released by the DCS at the time, Bester had apparently committed suicide in his cell after setting himself alight in the prison under the management of British security company G4S.

However, an investigation by news agency GroundUp revealed that the body found in the cell was not the Facebook rapist and the evidence suggested he had escaped.

Last week, police confirmed they were investigating a case of murder as an autopsy revealed that the charred body found showed signs of blunt force trauma to the head before it was set alight.

DCS also confirmed that DNA sequencing with a person identified as the mother of Bester failed to indicate a common ancestor or a match, meaning Bester had escaped prison.

With South Africa currently fascinated by the audacious escape of Bester and law enforcers who may have aided him to escape, we look at the most notable prison escapes in South African History to date:

Ananias Mathe

Mathe became notorious for being the first prisoner to escape from the high-security C Max Prison situated in Pretoria in 2006. He died in 2016 at the King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban after a lengthy illness. The escape of the serial rapist and robber became the stuff of legends when it was speculated that he may have smeared himself with vaseline petroleum jelly to enable him to make his infamous escape.

It turned out the vaseline story was just a fable as it was later discovered that Mathe bribed officials with a massive sum.

Seven dangerous prisoners escape from the Makhanda Correctional Facility

In October, prisoners who were identified by the DCS as Luvuyo September, Bennet Kwarrie, Simba Masinga, Trymore Chauke, Nhamo Muyambo, Abraham Moyane and Francis Chitiyo managed to escape from the Eastern Cape-based prison through the window. They were facing various charges, including murder and rape.

READ: Facebook rapist whistleblower fears for his life

Alex Nkomo

Nkomo was part of a cable theft syndicate and managed to escape from police custody early in March while travelling to court in Makhado, Limpopo. On the way, an armed gang is believed to have fired gunshots and Nkomo managed to escape with six others awaiting trial prisoners.

Nkosiyazi Phungula

Phungula managed to escape from the Johannesburg Correctional Facility in April 2018. He was among 16 awaiting trial prisoners who escaped through a pipe shaft and broke through a wall in the Medium B section of the prison also known as Sun City.

READ: Authorities confirm that burnt body wasn’t Bester

Sifiso Khumalo

Khumalo and two accomplices managed to escape from the holding cells of Middleburg Magistrates' Court in 2006 while awaiting trial. He was facing 3 counts of murder, 2 counts of rape and armed robbery.

Fortunately, his daring escape was short-lived, and the trio was arrested a day later after they were traced to a house in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, where they were lying low.

Bonga Ntuli

One of the most notorious serial killers from KwaMashu in KwaZulu-Natal managed to escape from police custody while being taken to the Durban Magistrates' Court. Ntuli was recaptured hours after his escape.

According to DCS’ annual report for the 2021/2022 financial year, 22 inmates escaped from various prisons around the country.

It read:

It is also pleasing to note that the escape statistics of 22 are the lowest that have been reported in the past 27 years. In the 2020/2021 financial year, 117 inmates escaped, while 34 broke out of correctional facilities the financial year before.

In March last year, four dangerous prisoners escaped from Rooigrond Prison, near Mahikeng, in North West.

While a cell window was found broken, and there were sheets typically used to shimmy down from a height, officials were unsure of how the men escaped from the high-perimeter fence.

The DCS confirmed the men had been convicted of crimes, including murder, rape and robbery.

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READ: Is the Facebook rapist still alive?

In April 2022, three remanded detainees managed to escape the Malmesbury Correctional Facility in the Western Cape.

In 2020, 69 inmates escaped from the same prison during exercise time. It is believed that the awaiting trial prisoners overpowered officials and took their keys before escaping through the main entrance and over the roof.