Is Cornelius Sekeleni, the father of arrested celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, Ananias Mathe reincarnate? Did Mathe really die?
These are the questions lingering in the minds of South Africans after Sekeleni’s first court appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 11 April. The 65-year-old was arrested at the weekend in connection with his daughter’s fugitive boyfriend and “Facebook rapist” Thabo Bester’s prison escape in May last year.
DR NANDIPHA MAGUDUMANA’S FATHER CHARGED WITH MURDER
Sekeleni and former G4S employee, 39-year-old Senohe Matsoara, face charges of arson for the fire in Bester’s cell, defeating the administration of justice, and fraud.
In addition, they were charged with the murder of the unknown man initially believed to be Bester, whose charred body was found in his prison cell.
ALSO READ: Dr Nandipha’s father charged with murder
Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, Free Stae, run by security company G4S, on 3 May 2022, after faking his death in a fire.
According to City Press, Free State’s National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said there’s a possibility of more people being arrested as well as more charges being added.
ALSO READ: Timeline of how Dr Nandipha met with Thabo Bester
The pair will appear again in the same court on Monday, April 17 for their bail application proceedings.
Their arrest cane after partners-in-crime Bester and Magudumana were arrested on Friday in Tanzania, 10km from the Kenyan border.
ALSO READ: Dr Nandipha KNEW Thabo Bester would escape from prison
‘UNCANNY’ RESEMBLANCE TO ANANIAS MATHE?
Following pictures of Sekeleni in court, social media users could not ignore the resemblance between him and Ananias Mathe.
Mathe — who was dubbed by police as the “ultimate career criminal” — was a serial rapist‚ robber and murderer. The Mozambican national is famous for reportedly rubbing petroleum jelly all over his body to slip away from a high-security prison in Pretoria in 2006. However, these claims were debunked as it later emerged that he walked out after paying warders a R80 000 bribe — TimesLIVE reported in 2016.
ALSO READ: South Africans wage war against Zimbabwean over Thabo Bester, Dr Nandipha joke
After being recaptured a mother after his escape from the Pretoria C-Max prison, he was sent to the super-max Ebongweni Prison in Kokstad, where he twice tried to escape. In 2013, he chiselled a hole through a wall in yet another attempt to escape, but was caught.
Mathe died at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban in December 2016.
