• Thabo Bester has been dominating headlines since South Africans learned of his brazen escape from a Free State prison
• An inmate inside the Mangaung Correctional Centre has given a blow-by-blow account of the day Bester escaped
• The details of the captured fugitive's escape have citizens believing that Bester was released and it wasn't simply a prison break

BLOEMFONTEIN - An anonymous inmate at the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Centre has detailed how Thabo Bester escaped from the prison.

The insight has led South Africans to believe that the fugitive was released from prison with the help of prison officials.

Mangaung Correctional Centre inmate gives detailed account of Thabo Bester's escape

A prisoner who was at the Magaung prison the day Bester escaped told SABC News that there was a flurry of activity outside Bester's cell the night of the prison break.

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The man said that he could hear prison officials walking up and down and the sound of doors opening and closing could be heard throughout the cell block.

The inmates were told about an explosion, but the man insisted he heard no sounds of a blast that evening.

On the morning of 3 May 2022, the inmate said he saw officials milling around at around 4am and later in the day saw DSC members, nurses and police just after 11am.

The inmates were then told that Bester committed suicide by lighting himself on fire, but the information did not sit right with the prisoners.

Inmate says prisoners didn't buy into story that Thabo Bester committed suicide

The anonymous inmate said it did not make sense that Bester would kill himself because he lived large while behind bars. The convicted murderer and sexual assaulter allegedly had access to whatever he wanted behind bars and got the best treatment.

The inmate said the prisoners also questioned how he managed to set himself alight given that inmates weren't allowed to have matches or cigarettes inside their cell and there were no electrical plugs, TimesLIVE reported.

The anonymous inmate said:

"So that was surprising [as to] how he managed to burn himself."

Dr Nandipha Magudumana secured a corpse to shield Thabo Bester's escape

Through the in-depth reporting of Bester's escape, South Africans know that Bester's girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, secured a body used as a decoy to conceal the fact that Bester had escaped.

Bester allegedly walked out of prison dressed as a warder.

Mzansi believe Thabo Bester was released from prison

The details of Bester's escape have South Africans thinking that Bester didn't escape from prison but was released by high-ranking accomplices.

Below are some comments:

Mandla Gweshe Dube requested:

"Please don't use the word 'escape' in this matter, the guy was let out of prison."

Ismail Ahmed slammed:

"Well staged, plotted to the point, accomplices from all sides involved... The making of a criminal state while protecting criminals?? The ANC criminal enterprise."

Mandla Mthembu added:

"I'm starting to believe the guy never escaped, he was released from prison."

Stephen Ntuli commented:

"Thabo Bester did not escape, he walked out of prison."

Percy Motsoire said

"It doesn't matter how many razor fences you put there or how high they are because they use the very same gate they came in with to go out again."

Police probe cause of death of corpses linked to Thabo Bester’s escape as Dr Nandipha faces murder charges

In a related story, Briefly News reported that the police are racing against time to figure out how and when the corpses linked to Thabo Bester's daring prison escape died.

This comes as Bester's accomplice and girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, was charged with murder in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Thursday, 13 April.

The charges are linked to the bodies the suspended doctor claimed from Free State mortuaries weeks before the captured fugitive's infamous escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre on 3 May 2022, TimesLIVE reported.