Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and his police counterpart, Bheki Cele, held a media briefing in Cape Town to provide further information on the capture of Thabo Bester and his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana. The pair was arrested on Friday in Tanzania, 10km away from the Kenyan border. They were brought back to South Africa this morning at 4am.

WHY KGOSI MAMPURU? 

Concerns have been raised around the risk of keeping Bester in a C-Max prison, especially because serial killer Ananius Mathe escaped. National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale said Kgosi Mampuru was the most eligible place to keep Bester for security reasons. He said there hasn't been any escapes at the facility in the past five years. "We are aware that Kgosi Mampuru is a C-Max and initially he was kept in a maximum prison. However, we have admitted him at Kgosi Mampuru because we considered the security plan moving him from where they landed to the nearest facility that has got all security measures that will ensure that he doesn't harm himself or be harmed by others and the most appropriate nearest facility was identified to be Kgosi Mampuru. "We need to manage contact around him, considering the type of offender that he is. We have placed him on 24/7 surveillance. He will be guarded by highly trained correctional services officials to make sure that we are able to attend to him first hand." 

BESTER'S PERSONAL LAPTOP IN PRISON 

The Department of Correctional Services has been lashed at for granting Bester access to a laptop. Minister Lamola provided clarity: "Section 41 in relation to the department of Correctional Services Act says that the department should provide a fuller range of activities and programmes including needs-based programmes as is practically possible to meet the educational and training needs of sentenced offenders. You will remember that the department was once taken to court by an inmate and the judgment ruled that they are allowed to use their personal laptops in their single cells without a modem. The laptops should be made available to the authorities for inspection at any given time. They can use the laptops for as long as they are registered with a tertiary institution." Lamola said they cannot get into detail on how Bester will be transported to court saying that they still have to sit in a committee, where all questions will be answered. 

DR NANDIPHA TO APPEAR IN COURT 

Dr Nandipha will be appearing at the Bloemfontein Margistrate Court today. The mother of two faces charges relating to aiding a convict to escape, murder, violation of corpses in relation to the three bodies she allegedly stole and fraud charges.