The South African public was shocked when news of Thabo Bester’s escape from prison surfaced last year. However, the plot thickened when it was discovered that Bester had used a dead body to fake his own death and make his escape. Now, the father of the man whose body was used in the prison break, Katlego Bereng Mpholo, has demanded answers about how his son died.
Mpholo’s father, Batho Mpholo, has publicly stated that he does not believe the police account of what happened to his son. He questions how Bester got hold of his son’s body when it was supposed to be in a government mortuary. The family had been searching for Mpholo since his disappearance in April 2022 and were not informed of his death until last week, when they were asked to do a DNA test.
Mpholo was described by his father as a fun-loving soccer fan who leaves behind a daughter aged four and a son aged two. Batho Mpholo is devastated by his son’s death and has stated that his heart is shattered into a million pieces. The family has not yet seen Mpholo’s body, and therefore cannot plan his funeral.
Meanwhile, Bester was able to live undetected for a year before he was finally arrested in Tanzania and deported back to South Africa. He had been serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu, as well as for raping and robbing two other women. His escape and subsequent arrest have caused widespread outrage, and Bester’s girlfriend, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, her father, and two employees of the British security firm G4S, which ran the prison, have been arrested for allegedly helping him escape.
The South African police declined to comment on Mr Mpholo’s statement, beyond saying that they were pleased to bring closure to the family. However, the public is eager for more answers about what really happened to Katlego Bereng Mpholo, and how his body ended up being used in Bester’s prison break.
