The father of a man whose body was used by a rapist and murderer in an elaborate prison escape plan says the South African government has “failed him”.
Nor does Batho Mpholo believe the police account of his son Katlego Bereng Mpholo’s last hours alive.
Thabo Bester, who was convicted in 2012 of raping two women and killing one of them, went missing in May last year following a fire in his prison cell at Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein.
It was assumed he had died in the flames.
But reports later surfaced of him being seen in Johannesburg, while DNA samples showed the body burned beyond recognition in the cell was not his.
On Friday afternoon, Mr Mpholo heard that Bloemfontein police had informed his son’s mother, Monica Matsie, that DNA test results had been returned and the body was that of their missing 31-year-old.
“The body that was burnt by Thabo Bester in prison was that of my son,” he tweeted. “Our own government is failing us. I am broken.”
Bester was recently arrested in Tanzania along with his girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana, almost a year after the fire that was supposed to have killed him.
Thabo Bester’s girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana, at Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court. Pic: AP
Mr Mpholo, in an interview with the ENCA news channel, said police told him his son “collapsed in town” and was taken to hospital.
After being admitted, it was discovered that his son had lost blood and he died, officers added.
Mr Mpholo junior, who had a son and a daughter, was then taken to a government mortuary, his father was told.
But family members visited several mortuaries in Bloemfontein after reporting his son missing.
“There was no sign of him in any mortuary,” Mr Mpholo said.
Regarding the version of events given to him by police, he commented: “I don’t believe it. There is more to it.”
He doubts his son, a “soccer fanatic”, knew either Bester or his girlfriend.
He described the official narrative as “not true” and, at present, he has no idea where his son’s body is.
“How did Thabo Bester get hold of my son’s body, if he was in a government mortuary?” he asked.
“My heart is shattered into a million pieces,” Mr Mpholo, who lives in Tembisa, northeast of Johannesburg, told the News 24 website.
“I cannot believe it; his mother Monica is devastated. She is in a complete state of shock. She’s not able to talk yet. This is devastating news.”
