By Cornelia du Plooy and Alex Eliseev
Dumbfounded police are "shocked, horrified and disappointed" after the dangerous "Houdini of C-Max" escaped from the country's most secure prison.
Ananias Mathe, a Mozambican rapist and robber linked to 70 cases, managed to escaped from Pretoria's C-Max Prison at the weekend, despite having been in handcuffs and leg irons.
Mathe, who became the first person to escape from the prison in its 36-year existence late on Saturday night, left the authorities a message on the prison's walls, which simply read "f**k you".
Since 2003, according to the police, the 27-year-old Mathe and his gang moved "from town to town", robbing and raping.
Mathe was first arrested in December last year and charged with 51 cases, including murder, attempted murder, rape, hijacking and armed robbery.
During his weekend escape, Mathe is believed to have stripped and covered his entire body with petroleum jelly to enable him to climb out of a bullet-proof window in his cell, which measured just 20cm by 60cm.
He was able to break through the wall surrounding the window, something which seems impossible in a cell where prisoners are allowed only a toothbrush, mug and spoon, and are shackled at all times.
The cell from where he escaped is about six square metres in size and contains only a bed, toilet, basin and wooden bench.
Once he had managed to remove the window, it is believed that he broke off two steel bars from his bed, which he wedged on either side of the window to help him slide his shoulders out of the window.
Mathe apparently took another steel pipe from his bed and made a hook from it. He then tied his clothes and bed linen to it, and used it to slide out of the cell down the firewall.
Halfway down the wall, Mathe was able to use some of the grime he had collected on his way down to write prison officials his mocking message.
Police know that during his crime spree Mathe used 250 cellphones and had a gang of about 40 men.
Of these, 21 men have been arrested, 19 of them from Mozambique, and 11 cars, worth R1,7-million, have been recovered, together with about R30 000 in stolen goods.
In just three days they hit 28 houses in Thabazimbi, Limpopo. Their trademark was to poison the owners' dogs and break the door locks to ensure they were not followed by their victims.
Mathe was first arrested early last year in connection with break-ins and rapes, some of them in the Parkhurst area of Johannesburg. But he managed to escape in April 2005 by busting out of Johannesburg Central police station's high-risk detention facility.
In December 2005 he was re-arrested and put into C-Max, from where he tried to escape five times, before finally succeeding.
The director of communications at the Department of Correctional Services, Bheki Manzini, said Mathe had been detained at C-Max's A6 section, which houses hardened criminals who are deemed escape risks.
Police call Mathe "the ultimate criminal" and were delighted when, after more than a year of hunting him, a task team was finally able to capture him.
Now, however, they are shocked at his escape - none more so than Captain Arnold Boonstra, the police investigating officer who was part of the team that first captured Mathe.
"We are devastated. We have gathered the team and have regrouped. We will not sleep until we get him," said Boonstra, adding that a massive manhunt had been launched.
Asked what kind of person Mathe was, Boonstra said: "He is a monster. He has no conscience. He is such a scrawny little guy and comes across as such a pathetic individual, but try to catch him and it's a completely different story.
"It took my colleague and I - we're both over six feet and weigh more than 140kg - nearly 15 minutes to apprehend and subdue him. He has extensive military training, which we believe enabled him to escape in the manner in which he did."
Last month Mathe was caught with a large prison-made knife - called a shank - which he was planning to use to stab Boonstra and his men.
Superintendent Andre Neethling, who co-ordinated the task team, said that in 23 years of service he had never come across a more brazen career criminal.
He told The Star that Mathe knew nothing besides a life of crime and would not stop unless he was "put away forever".
"He's a very tough man. Not very tall, but tough," Neethling said. "He was a soldier in Mozambique and is used to the bush. We had to use 4x4s and helicopters (to catch him) and he made it extremely difficult for us."
During his run-ins with police, Mathe did not hesitate to smash through a highway tollgate, speed up a 7m concrete incline or take sharp turns on two wheels to drive into the veld. Once in the bush, he would vanish, Neethling said.
Now police are terrified that, after a short cooling-off period in Mozambique, Mathe will strike back.
"This is business. He'll go to Mozambique, but then he will be back in full force," said a police source. "The last time he was quiet for a while and then suddenly he was back with a vengeance."
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi's spokesperson, Director Sally de Beer, said: "We haven't got words to describe our feelings. We are shocked, horrified and disappointed, especially knowing how dangerous and cruel he is."
Correctional Services had no explanation for Mathe's embarrassing escape.
"We are really perturbed by this incident," said spokesperson Manelisi Wolela. "The window (in Mathe's cell) was so small, he could just get his head through. This is the amazing thing."
Wolela said investigations were under way and would reveal if Mathe had any inside help. "He must have planned this for a long time. This is a serious worry."