Nine months after his escape from prison, the Department of Correctional Services and police are still searching for convicted rapist and kidnapper Clatta Gumbo.
The department’s spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, said: “The inmate remains at large. As stated before, the department will issue an alert should there be any developments in that regard.”
Nxumalo said the findings of an internal investigation cannot be made public yet, “more so as the escapee is yet to be rearrested”.Â
Gumbo escaped before a consultation with a dietician at the Mamelodi Regional Hospital in February. He had been referred to see a dietician by a doctor.
Attacked a guard
Gumbo, who was serving a life sentence for rape, kidnapping and assault, reportedly attacked and disarmed a guard before finding his way out of the hospital. He was serving the sentence at Baviaanspoort Correctional Centre in Tshwane.
Nxumalo also announced that Correctional Services rearrested Martin Jackson a day after he escaped from the Boksburg Correctional Facility last Wednesday.Â
Nxumalo said Jackson will face additional criminal charges in connection with his escape.
Escaped while officials partied
Sunday World understands Jackson escaped while prison officials were having a party. They were celebrating the appointment of a new area commissioner at the facility.Â
Nxumalo said Jackson was admitted into their system on April 10, 2015. He is serving a 20-year sentence for robbery, theft and possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Date of Bester trial set
Meanwhile, the trial of rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, who infamously escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022 after faking his own death in a prison cell, will begin in the Bloemfontein High Court on February 10, 2025.Â
Bester and his partner, Dr Nadipha Magudumana, were apprehended in Tanzania in April 2023.
Among the many accused facing a long list of charges are Bester, Magudumana, and several suspended G4S prison staff members. They face charges ranging from fraud and corruption to arson and defeating the ends of justice, to name a few.
