Escaped inmate rearrested as officials probe inside job

Edward Khomotso Madiba, the inmate who escaped from the Rooigrond Maximum Security Correctional Centre near Mahikeng in the North West, has been rearrested in Brits within 72 hours of his escape, the Department of Correctional Services confirmed on Thursday. Madiba fled the facility in the early hours of Sunday, September 6, while serving a 20-year sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm and ammunition, kidnapping and parole violations. Correctional Services National Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale told reporters in Pretoria that preliminary investigations indicate Madiba did not escape on his own and was assisted by people inside the facility. Investigators found a number of decoy items at the scene that appear to have been planted to create the impression that the inmate escaped through that route. Thobakgale said preliminary findings show Madiba cut through a burglar gate and the steel door of his cell, something he argued would be impossible to do from inside a cell without an electronic tool with power and speed, and without being caught.