24-04-2025
Four Free State warders arrested in connection with inmate's death
Four prison warders were arrested at the Mangaung Correctional Facility on Tuesday evening.
Their arrests follow the death of an inmate at the facility.
The inmate's death was initially reported as due to natural causes.
Four prison warders have been arrested in connection with the death of an inmate at a Free State correctional facility.
"On Wednesday, 12 March, police were notified of the death of 37-year-old Mpho Mkhumbeni, an inmate at Mangaung Correctional Facility in Bloemfontein. At the time, the death was believed to be due to natural causes, and an inquest docket was opened for further investigations," police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said.
However, post-mortem results indicated that Mkhumbeni had not died of natural causes.
"These findings led investigators to change the inquest docket to a murder investigation. Further investigations by the Bloemspruit police on the evening of Tuesday, 22 April, resulted in the arrest of four warders, aged between 34 and 50, for the alleged murder of the inmate," Makhele added.
Makhele said the investigation was ongoing.
#sapsFS #SAPS Bloemspruit has on 22/04 arrested four prison warders in connection with the death of an Wednesday, 12 /03, police were notified of the death of 37yr-old inmate at Mangaung correctional facility in Bloemfontein. At the time, the death was believed to…
— SA Police Service ???? (@SAPoliceService) April 23, 2025
The incident took place at the same facility from which notorious rapist Thabo Bester escaped in May 2022.
News24 previously reported that the national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, had given an assurance that an escape similar to that of Bester would not occur again.
The Public Protector launched an investigation in March 2023 after receiving a complaint from a member of the public that the DCS had failed the public in its handling of the escape.
The report by the Public Protector, according to GroundUp, concluded that the conduct of two DCS officials, Roseline Phahlane and Chris Mahonono, "constitutes improper conduct as contemplated in terms of Section 182(1)(a) of the Constitution and amounts to undue delay as envisaged in Section 6(4)(a)(ii) of the Public Protector Act".
