A man with the same name as Thabo Bester has spoken about living ‘in a nightmare’.
Image via Twitter: @am_blujay/Facebook: Thabo Bester
‘Fed-up’: The ‘other’ Thabo Bester annoyed at mistaken identity
‘Living nightmare’: A Jozi man also called Thabo Bester has spoken of being shunned by his community over the shame of his name.
A man with the same name as Thabo Bester has spoken about living ‘in a nightmare’.
Image via Twitter: @am_blujay/Facebook: Thabo Bester
In just a few short months, convicted criminal Thabo Bester has become a household name. But for a man with the same name, the media frenzy has become unbearable.
Thabo Lawrence Bester of Ratanda, Gauteng, as found himself often mistaken for the man convicted of rape, murder, and fraud.
The news has even seen his local community ostracise him over the unwanted attention.
In a media briefing by the Deparment of Home Affairs last month, it was revealed that there were two registered men named Thabo Bester in South Africa. The convict is not one of them, as he has never registered his birth or identity with the department.
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LIFE OF SHAME FOR MAN WITH SAME NAME
Speaking to Huisgenoot, Thabo of Ratanda shared his frustration at being mistaken for Bester.
The unemployed forklift driver claims that his community has even ostracised him over their beliefs he is the man accused of multiple crimes.
“It was not a good time”, he says of headlines of Thabo Bester’s criminal activities. “That man is not a good man” he said of Bester, who was re-arrested last month following a prison escape.
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Of being shunned in the community, Thabo added: “Many people will find me in the street, mock me, and say ‘Mr Bester.’ I just laugh along. What else can I do?”.
In an interview with Sunday Times, Thabo said the bizarre mistaken identity had become a “living nightmare” for him.
During Bester’s criminal spree over two decades ago, the other Thabo was in prison for his own crime, murdering a friend in a tavern quarrel in 2010.
He said: “I told them to tell the police it was impossible, as I was in prison. There was no way I could be in two places at once. The same thing happened again in 2018, just before I got out of prison.
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“I was very confused about what was happening. It meant there was someone with my identity document, which had my address, committing these crimes in my name. The police were coming to my house and my neighbour’s house asking for me.”
After being released from prison in 2018, the man cleared his name. After Bester’s alleged prison escape in May 2022, the man has become a target again.
He continued: “I was shocked. I thought this could not be happening again. People were asking me if it was me. I thought I cannot go through this whole mess again.
THABO BESTER: WHAT’S IN A NAME?
In a media briefing on Friday, 14 April, Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi revealed that while Thabo Bester did not have an official identity document, he was identified through a record of his fingerprints.
Interestingly, the department did have a record for two other men with the same name.
“One is a young man who is 19 years old. He has already presented himself to the police when he heard that there is a ‘Thabo Bester’ who is wanted.
“Police confirmed he was not the person they were looking for”.
The Minister also revealed that the department had gone through identires of 16 men with the name TK Nkwana, an alias used by Bester.
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