Correctional Services boss Thobakgale says guards ‘helped’ inmate escape
Testifying at the Madlanga Commission on Thursday, Thobakgale said Madiba told him and the department’s head of security that officers involved in his initial 2022 escape had approached and warned him to leave.
Makgothi Thobakgale, the Correctional Services commissioner, testified at the Madlanga Commission that prison guards allegedly aided Edward Khomotso Madiba in escaping custody. Madiba accused the officers involved in his 2022 escape of intimidating him to prevent him from revealing their identities in court. In September 2026, Madiba was rearrested after slipping away from the Rooigrond Maximum Correctional Centre in Mahikeng.
Thobakgale revealed that Madiba was preparing to name the correctional officers implicated in the 2022 breakout when he was threatened. The officers reportedly warned him, stating either he leaves or they would harm him. Thobakgale stated that these threats led Madiba to claim the officers had helped him escape, thereby obstructing him from naming them during the court proceedings.
Madiba was serving a 20-year sentence for various crimes at the time of his latest capture and was subsequently transferred to the Kgosi Mampuru II C-Max facility in Pretoria.
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