Motsoaledi denies Magudumana stole ‘Dr Pashy’s’ identity, says she just had her two passports

Reports that Dr Nandipha Magudumana stole the identity of Dr Mmereka Ntshani, popularly known “Dr Pashy”, have been denied by home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi, with the former simply being found in possession of Ntshani's documents.

The minister revealed this during a briefing in Pretoria, in which he shared his department's records regarding “Facebook” rapist Thabo Bester and Magudumana. They were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, last week and returned to South Africa on Thursday.

The couple were found in possession of several identity documents when they were nabbed.

A Sunday Times report said Magudumana was found with four fake passports, two of which belonged to Ntshani, while Bester had six, four of which contained his bogus 1988 birth date.

“When she was caught in Tanzania, she was found in possession of her [current] passport, which expires in 2027 and which she last used on May 12 2022, coming from Bulawayo. But she was found with two other passports and that's where the story of multiple passports comes in,” Motsoaledi said.

“Those two passports don't belong to her. They belong to Ntshani, [Magudumana] was carrying her passports. One of those passports expired on July 24 2022 because we issued it to Dr Ntshani on July 25 2012. It beats us why [Magudumana] was carrying an expired passport because it has no use, it can't be used at any border because passports are not only controlled by us. They get used into many countries. They are controlled by international civil aviation authorities and the standard is that they must be machine readable.

“The second passport was issued on July 10 2019 and is due to expire on July 9 2029. So it still has a long lifespan. The last time the first passport was used was on December 26 2020.”

The minister explained the existence of both passports and how they ended up in Magudumana's possession. Ntshani applied for a new passport in 2019, saying in an affidavit deposed to the police that the first had been stolen.

She then deposed another affidavit on March 27 2023 saying she gave Magudumana and Bester, then using TK Nkwana, her current passport so they could apply for “working citizenship” in the US.

“I don't know much about this, but people who have applied for this tell me it is not possible to send someone [on your behalf]. You must come in person.

“So the story that Magudumana assumed the identity of Dr Ntshani, that's not true. She never assumed that identity. She just carried the two passports and never used them. At no stage did she tell anyone she was Dr Ntshani.”

Motsoaledi also clarified reports that Bester and Magudumana were customarily married, saying the department had no record of this. 

Questioned on whether Magudumana was still legally married to Dr Mkhuseli Magudumana, the minister said according to home affairs records, she was. This did not necessarily mean they still are married, but any divorce registered with the justice department was not recorded with home affairs.

Earlier, Motsoaledi gave an overview of Bester's records, saying the department uses three databases to find information on anyone legally in the country. These are the national population registry (NPR), which tracks births, deaths, marriages and passports for South African citizens; the national immigration identity system, which registers asylum seekers and refugees; and the visa adjudicating system, which tracks anyone who entered the country on a visa. 

“The first port of call when you identify someone in the country is the NPR because you assume he's a South African. In the NPR, we found only two Thabo Besters in South Africa. One is a young man of 19 years who presented himself to the police when he heard there was a Thabo Bester who was wanted. The police confirmed he was not the person they sought. The second is 40.

“We then have to go to the other two databases ... we found nothing. We then heard from you in the media that this man is using [the name] Thapelo Nkwana or TK Nkwana, so we switched our search to that. Our system revealed 16 Nkwanas on the NPR, but none fitted the picture of the man who escaped from prison.”

This left the department in a bind until media reports alerted it to Bester's mother, Meisie Mabaso.

A visit to her unravelled Bester's history from birth, confirming he was born on June 13 1986 at Chris Baragwanath hospital. His birth was never registered with home affairs and he never applied for an ID. 

“He simply did not exist in our systems. Bester doesn't have any passport with home affairs,” Motsoaledi said.

The minister added that it was difficult to ascertain whether the US passport Bester had when he was arrested was authentic, as there was no way to verify its authenticity. 

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