From Ananias Mathe to Bongani Moyo: 4 prisoners who escaped from C-Max

“Facebook” rapist and murderer Thabo Bester's escape from prison has put the spotlight on loopholes in the department of correctional services and raised concerns among many about the possibility of future prison escapes. 

Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022. He was recaptured in Tanzania with his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana last week.

The couple were arrested with a Mozambican who allegedly aided them in their run from authorities.

Bester has been sent to the maximum security Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria.

Here are four notable escapes from the facility in the past two decades:

Ananias Mathe

Houdini-like serial rapist‚ robber and murderer Mathe was famous for reportedly rubbing petroleum jelly over his body to slip away from the high security C Max Prison in Pretoria in 2006.

Mathe died in 2016 at the King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban. It was later discovered he escaped prison after paying warders an R80,000 bribe.

Sunday Times established the bribe was paid to warders by four members of Mathe’s gang who raised the money in the village of Xicumbane in the Xai Xai district of Mozambique where he lived with his two wives and five children.

Thabo Zacharia Muyambo and Johannes Chauke

Muyambo and Chauke escaped from the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in 2020 by making a hole in the wall of their cell.

Muyambo was serving 21 years for various crimes, including rape and kidnapping, while Chauke had a 20-year sentence for housebreaking crimes. 

Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said at the time law enforcement officials were hot on the heels of the two escapees.

“The department has initiated an internal investigation. Members of the public are urged to contact the nearest police station should they come into contact with them.”

Bongani Moyo

In 2012, the department launched an investigation after serial escapee Zimbabwean Bongani Moyo made his second escape from the Kgosi Mampuru II prison with his accomplice Khumbulani Sibanda.

He was sentenced to 62 years and Sibanda to 55 years on 15 charges, including racketeering, bank robbery and escaping from custody.

“I will not escape again. I have shown remorse. Every time I escape, I get caught, so how does that assist me? I have now resolved to face the consequences,” said Moyo.