Johannesburg - Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s legal team is considering options to appeal the Bloemfontein High Court ruling, which dismissed her application to declare her arrest in Tanzania unlawful.
Judge Phillip Loubser yesterday ruled that her application was dismissed with costs.
Judge Loubser ordered Magudumana to pay costs, including those of the two counsels. Magudumana will, therefore, remain in custody at Kroonstad Prison as her court battle unfolds.
She is expected back in court on June 20. She last appeared at the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on May 16 and the case was postponed for further investigation.
Her lawyer, An- ton Katz SC, a top international advo- cate, argued that her deportation from Tanzania was disguised as an extradition.
According to unconfirmed reports, Katz’s rate is about R70 000 per day, and counsel charge about R55 000 per day each, which means that her bill might be about R650 000. Magudumana and her partner, Thabo Bester, were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, in April this year.
Magudumana is facing 12 charges linked to Bester’s escape from the G4Srun Mangaung Correctional Facility in May last year. Bester used Katlego Bereng’s body as a decoy to escape serving a life sentence.
Instead of applying for bail, Magudumana brought an urgent application challenging her arrest, claiming she was abducted and not lawfully arrested.
Judge Loubser said that while Magudumana’s application did not meet the requirements to be considered an urgent matter, it was in the interest of justice that he heard the matter.
He disagreed with Magudumana’s assertion, ruling that she had acquiesced to being transported to South Africa. “I am dismissing this application with costs, including the cost of two counsel members }’’ said the judge.
He said he had no hesitation in finding the applicant (Magudumana) was well aware at the time of her handing over of the charges that could be levelled against her in South Africa.
‘’She nevertheless consented to her removal from Tanzania to South Africa because she wanted to be with her children. At the very least, she had willingly acquiesced to her transportation back to South Africa,’’ said Judge Loubser.
Last week, the State argued that Magudumana was not arrested in Tanzania, nor was she arrested during the flight or placed in handcuffs.
Her lawyer, Machine Matloung, said they would be taking instructions from their client for a way forward. “We listened attentively to the judgment and the reasons given, and we will be taking instructions, and obviously, there are a few legal points that we still have reservations on we are quite confident of the merit of our case,’’ said Matloung.
Poppy Bereng, the aunt of Katlego Bereng, welcomed the judgment. “I am very happy on behalf of the family for the judgment because, from the onset, the SAPS and the NPA’s handling of this case shows that justice is prevailing. I believe that the State has a case; considering what transpired with Katlego’s body, she has a case to answer,’’ said Bereng.
The NPA said it welcomed the court’s dismissal of Magudumana’s urgent application with costs.
“What we hope is that we’ll be given enough space so that we can do what is expected of us as prosecutors and investigators to ensure that justice prevails,’’ said NPA Free State spokesperson Phaladi Shuping.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that Magudumana’s release would have been an injustice.
Legal expert Nthabiseng Dubazana said she did not see on what grounds the appeal would be. She said that on urgency alone, the matter should have been struck off the roll.
Meanwhile, SAPS confirmed that an investigator, who was also the provincial head of organised crime in the Free State, died yesterday in what was believed to be a suicide.
“The SAPS can confirm the death of one of the investigators into the Thabo Bester escape case,” said SAPS national spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
The Star