South African authorities wasted no time after getting Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana returned to South Africa when they put him back in prison and drove her to court for her first appearance. 

Magudumana will appear in court in Bloemfontein on Thursday on multiple charges, including the violation of bodies.

At the same time, her partner, Bester, is being monitored around the clock in the maximum-security section of Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria. 

National police commissioner Fannie Masemola said Magudumana would face charges of: 

• aiding and abetting escape;
• murder due to a "number of bodies found";
• violation of bodies; and
• fraud. 

Magudumana and Bester arrived from Tanzania on Thursday morning after a speedy deportation process, following their arrest in Arusha on Friday.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said Magudumana was "very cooperative", but not Bester. 

"We know that the good doctor (Magudumana) cooperated on the other side. We know that the good doctor's customary husband (Bester) did not cooperate," said Cele. 

Magudumana was taken to Bloemfontein on Thursday morning for her first court appearance, and Bester was put behind bars.

Department of Correctional Services commissioner Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale said, "We are placing a 24/7 surveillance on him."

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and Cele said South Africa was extremely grateful for Tanzanian officials' assistance.

Fingerprint confirmation that the two are South Africans and cooperation from Tanzania seemed to seal the speedy deportation.

Bester was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend in Cape Town, on top of several sentences of 15 years for the rape and robbery of women in Durban.

He was called the "Facebook rapist" for his modus operandi of approaching women on the social media platform.

Bester as thought to have died in a fire at the G4S-run Mangaung prison on 3 May last year.

But a sighting at Woolworths in Sandton led to the revelation that he had pulled off a fake suicide by using another person's body. 

After GroundUp chipped away at initial denials by prison authorities that he had escaped, he and Magudumana were tracked down to a mansion in Hyde Park. They fled but were eventually arrested in Tanzania.

So far, five people, including Bester and Magudumana, have been arrested, and representatives from G4S are on the carpet over how Bester pulled off his escape.

G4S runs the prison on a contract with the Department of Correctional Services.

Cele told News24 on the sidelines that Magudumana's children were fine, but he would not reveal further details.  

The justice portfolio committee will continue with its probe on Thursday into how he escaped.