She made the claims in an application to the high court in
Bloemfontein seeking to have her arrest and detention declared wrongful and
unlawful.
Magudumana was arrested in April in Tanzania with her
boyfriend Thabo Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer who had escaped from
prison. She has been in custody since.
“Presently I'm illegally detained at the Bizzah Makhate
Correctional Centre in Kroonstad by the fifth respondent,” Magudumana said in
her papers.
Magudumana is accused of having assisted Bester to escape
from Mangaung correctional facility after he staged a “suicide” in his single
cell in May last year.
Her urgent application will be heard on Friday.
In her court papers, she has cited the Free State director
of public prosecutions, the minister of police, a Capt Tieho Flyman, the
presiding magistrate for the criminal case and the head of the Bizzah Makhate
Correctional Centre as the respondents.
Minister of home affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi on Monday
stated his department wanted to join the proceedings as an interested party.
He told a news conference Magudumana was not unlawfully
“abducted” or “extradited” from Tanzania.
“Dr Nandipha Magudumana and Thabo Bester were declared prohibited
immigrants in terms the immigration laws of Tanzania and were therefore, as a
matter of law, liable to be deported back to their country of origin. The same
procedure was followed in respect of the Mozambican national who was in their
company,” Motsoaledi said.
In her affidavit, Magudumana argues Tanzania is a sovereign
African country
“None of the respondents and more, in particular, the second respondents [police minister] (or its employees) have any jurisdiction or authority to arrest anyone there and/or the authority to remove South Africans (save where properly authorised by the authorities in Tanzania),” reads Magudumana's affidavit. Times
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