Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has vehemently denied claims by celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana regarding her arrest and alleged abduction in Tanzania.
Magudumana, along with her partner and convicted murderer Thabo Bester, was apprehended in Tanzania on April 7 and subsequently extradited to South Africa on April 13.
She has now launched an urgent court application seeking to have her arrest declared wrongful and unlawful.
The court papers, dated May 19, state that Magudumana’s desire for the court to declare that her detention and transportation from Tanzania to South Africa, as well as her subsequent arrest and detention, were all carried out in violation of the law.
However Motsoaledi, speaking at a media briefing on Monday, expressed his surprise at not being cited as a respondent in the matter despite correspondence between the director-general and Magudumana’s attorneys.
He confirmed that the department has demanded the removal of the application from the urgent court roll.
Motsoaledi emphasized that Magudumana and Bester were deemed prohibited immigrants under Tanzanian immigration laws and were therefore subject to deportation back to their country of origin.
The minister added that the same procedure was followed for the Mozambican who was arrested alongside them.
Motsoaledi also clarified that the department’s director-general addressed a letter to Magudumana’s attorneys on May 21, rectifying the misconception that her deportation was unlawful.
“The director-general only managed to accept the court papers yesterday. We saw them in the news and only yesterday we got the court papers late in the afternoon,” he said.
“The director-general was shocked to discover that the Department of Home Affairs and I as the minister were not cited as a respondent in that matter.
“This is despite the fact that on the 15th of May 2023, there was an exchange of correspondence between the director-general and the Motloung Inc Attorneys of record for Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
“The attorneys wrote us letters, there was an exchange and that they went to court without citing the department, it shocked us.
“The director-general immediately addressed a letter dated the 21st of May 2023 to her attorneys addressing the non-joinder of the department and myself as the minister and demanded that the application be removed from the urgent roll.”
Despite the department’s efforts to resolve the matter outside of court, Motsoaledi expressed the intention to attend the proceedings if the application is not retracted.
The hearing is scheduled for May 25 in Bloemfontein.
Magudumana abandoned her bail application during her appearance at the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court last week, and her case was postponed to June 20.
However, in recent court papers, she demands immediate release from detention.
The case involving Magudumana and Bester has garnered significant attention due to circumstances surrounding Bester’s escape from the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022.
Bester faked his death while the body of Katlego Bereng was set ablaze in his prison cell as part of an elaborate escape plan together with several accomplices.
Five former G4S employees, as well as Magudumana’s father Zolile Sekeleni, have been accused of aiding and abetting Bester in his escape.
They face charges of fraud, corruption, violating a corpse, harboring an escaped offender, and defeating the ends of justice.
As this legal battle unfolds, the public awaits further developments involving Magudumana and her alleged involvement with Bester.
The court’s decision on her urgent application to be released will undoubtedly shape the trajectory of this high-profile case.
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