JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A private security guard shot and recaptured South Africa's most wanted criminal Monday, two weeks after the accused killer greased himself with petroleum jelly and squeezed out of the country's top security prison through a window.

This is an undated photo released by South African Police Services which shows Annanias Mathe. Mathe, South Africa's most wanted criminal was shot and recaptured Monday Dec. 4, 2006. [AP]

Annanias Mathe, a Mozambican awaiting trial on 51 charges including murder and rape, had stolen a car fitted with a tracking device, and the security company that had installed it followed with the help of a helicopter, national police spokeswoman Sally de Beer told the South African Press Association. Such devices are common in a country where car theft is a major problem.

An employee of the tracking company, identified by local radio as Joseph Makula, pursued Mathe after he abandoned the vehicle northeast of Johannesburg and fled on foot.

Makula was stabbed in the face with a screwdriver before he and a colleague fired at Mathe, wounding him in the buttocks and legs.

"I told him to stop but he didn't. That is when we shot him. He was then 100 per cent under our control," Makula told SABC radio news from a hospital where he is recovering. He won't be getting any kind of reward for helping recapture Mathe, because none was offered.

Embarrassed police had launched a massive manhunt, during which they shot and wounded a clergyman who had mistakenly been identified as the fugitive.

Andy Baker, managing director of tracking company Altech Netstar, praised his employees and said he did not believe his company's role in capturing Mathe reflected badly on police.

"We are delighted to be able to help bring this guy in. I know the police have been working feverishly on the case. Sometimes you just need a break," he said.

Mathe was being kept under heavy guard at a hospital, where he was taken to have an operation for a broken leg.

Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said a special cell at Pretoria's C-Max prison, where Mathe escaped through a tiny cell window on Nov. 18, had been set aside.

"We have strengthened everything around that cell to make sure he doesn't ever get out again," Balfour said, adding that officials suspected of helping Mathe escape were suspended pending an investigation.