By Bongiwe Zwane-Maseko
South African Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed that although they had no record of Thabo Bester’s ID as he had never been issued with one, he was born at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto and his mother never registered his birth.
Motsoaledi said Bester, who was born June 13, 1986, was the oldest of four children that his mother Maria Mabaso had, but she never registered Thabo Bester’s birth with home affairs. She was 16 when she gave birth to Bester.
According to IOL News, Motsoaledi said their investigations found that Bester had attended school in the south of Johannesburg in 1997 but dropped out of school in Grade 5 in 2002.
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Motsoaledi, who was briefing the media on Friday, said they would have to consult with lawyers about whether they can force Bester to take an ID. He said Bester could be issued an ID by next week.
But he said many prisoners were in custody without IDs to avoid being detected for their alleged involvement in crimes. Police Minister Bheki Cele told Parliament on Thursday that Bester was identified through his fingerprints which were stored in the SAPS criminal database after he was arrested and sentenced for rape and murder in 2012.
It also emerged from Cele and senior police officials that Bester was on parole for fraud when he was arrested for rape and murder in 2012. Motsoaledi said the issue of Bester not having an ID emanates from the fact that he never went to home affairs to take one.
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Motsoaledi said when they visited Bester’s mother recently, they discovered that she had registered him with her mother’s surname, Bester when he was born at Chris Hani Baragwanath.
Bester’s grandmother, Johanna Bester, was born in the 1930s. She died in 2002. When Bester’s mother went to take her ID, she had to take her late mother’s sister to home affairs, and she used her surname Mabaso. Motsoaledi said even Bester’s mother only applied for an ID at the age of 37, in 2002.
