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.
Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale testified that prison guards allegedly assisted Edward Khomotso Madiba in escaping from custody. Madiba was rearrested on September 9, 2026, following his escape from the Rooigrond Maximum Correctional Centre in Mahikeng in 2022. According to Thobakgale, Madiba was preparing to identify correctional officers involved in the 2022 breakout when he was threatened, either to leave or face violence.
Thobakgale stated that these threats prevented Madiba from naming the officers during court proceedings, which the guards allegedly facilitated to prevent him from implicating them. Madiba, who was serving a 20-year sentence for various crimes, was subsequently transferred to the Kgosi Mampuru II C-Max facility in Pretoria following his latest capture.
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