Cape Town – The Bloemfontein High Court has postponed to 1 July, the urgent application brought by Dr Nandipha Magudumana which sought to declare her arrest and detention wrongful and unlawful.
Magudumana approached the high court, alleging that she was forcibly abducted and blindfolded during her arrest before being taken to the airport.
She 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.
She is accused of aiding Bester’s escape from a correctional facility.
Her urgent application was set to be heard in the high court in Bloemfontein, however, the matter has been stalled to allow the Department of Home Affairs time to file opposing papers, Times Live reported.
Magudumana has taken legal action against various parties, including the Free State director of public prosecutions, the minister of police, a police officer, the presiding magistrate for her criminal case, and the head of the correctional center where she is being held, the report said.
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Her legal team intends to argue that these officers did not have jurisdiction to arrest her in a foreign country, reported Sunday World.
Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi, has dismissed Magudumana’s claims, saying that both she and Bester were declared prohibited immigrants and were liable to be deported.
The minister also said that the Department of Home Affairs had received legal advice suggesting that there were strong grounds to revoke Magudumana’s passport.
“The department of Home Affairs has obtained legal advice that there are strong grounds to revoke the passport of Dr Nandipha Magudumana and that same action must be taken to that effect.
“The director general will be taking due legal process steps in terms of South African passports and travel documentation Act – Act number 4 of 1994… to revoke the passport issued to Dr Nandipha Magudumana on the 16th of February 2017 which is due to expire on the 15th of February 2027,” Motsoaledi said while briefing the media.
He said that the revocation was based on the belief that she no longer deserved to hold it.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
