A POSH car belonging to South Africa’s murder, fraud and dead bodies violation suspects Thabo Bester and lover Nandipha Magudumana could not find a ready taker at a Customs and Excise rummage auction held in Beitbridge yesterday.
The car had been abandoned at Beitbridge Border Post.
Bester and Magudumana dumped the vehicle when the former was on the run after he escaped from prison, but was later apprehended in Nairobi, Kenya.
The vehicle was forfeited to the State after Bester’s arrest and had a reserve price of US$77 000 when it went under the hammer.
After calling for bidders to no avail auctioneer John Chindenda of Mac Auctions proceeded to another lot signalling that the vehicle had no interested buyer.
“Any takers, I hear it is Dr Nandipha’s car and asking for US$77 000 any takers? There are no takers and we move to the next lot,” Chindenda said before moving to his list of about 40 vehicles.
Two best sellers at the auction were a Toyota Prado and a Fortuner which fetched around US$30 000 each among a variety of other wares seized either from futile smuggling attempts or failure to pay duty.
Bester and Magudumana’s car, an armoured custom-made S600 Mercedes Benz, whose value was put at between R2 million and R3 million, has been at Beitbridge where it was abandoned inside the border post.
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The vehicle which has never been claimed is suspected to have been hired by Magudumana and used by her fugitive lover when he was on the run.
Reports said the car was impounded after a Zimbabwean man identified as Sicelo Ndlovu removed its South African registration plates and replaced them with yellow Zimbabwean plates.
The black Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG is said to have been acquired by Magudumana with an offer to purchase it for R1,7 million from a car dealership in uMhlanga.
Bester and Magudumana are facing several criminal charges including escaping from lawful custody after the faking death in which a corpse was used to fake Bester’s death allegedly in collusion with prison officials.
Several people have been arrested in connection with the case which is ongoing and dragging in South African courts.
