Cape Town — A reward of U.S.$5,600 (R100,000) has been offered by Fidelity Services Group for the capture of convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester, Times Live reports. This comes after G4S, the private security company that operated the Mangaung Prison during Bester’s incarceration, had its control of the prison removed by the Department of Correctional Services who slammed the escape as “embarrassing” and the “first of its kind”. In a post shared on social media, the Fidelity Services Group wrote: “Help us bring this criminal to book. We are offering R100,000 to anyone who can provide us with information that leads to the successful arrest and conviction of Bester, otherwise known as the “Facebook rapist”.
Speaking on the department’s taking control of the Mangaung facility and the removal of G4S, National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale said: “This is a necessary remedy following this embarrassing incident which has undermined the authority of the state.” Thobakgale also confirmed that “detectives from the family violence, child protection and sexual offences and the organised crime investigations units in the Free State province and Gauteng province, have been working together” to capture Bester.
Despite his infamy as “the Facebook rapist” due to his using the social media platform to lure his victims, Bester also ran a multi-million rand scam business while in prison. He posed as the “chairman” of 21st Century Media, a scam event and production company, which was made to look like a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. GroundUp further reported that, since his escape, Bester has allegedly been running a scam construction company called “Arum Properties” with celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana.
