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The much-discussed Showmax documentary, Tracking Thabo Bester, prevailed over aggressive legal action by its subjects, convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester and disgraced doctor Nandipha Magudumana.
The documentary, which shares insight into the circumstances around Bester’s audacious escape from the Mangaung prison in May 2022, draws its narrative from GroundUp’s team of investigative journalists who followed up numerous tip-offs from whistleblowers with information contrary to a statement from the department of correctional services at the time that proclaimed that Bester, who is known as the Facebook rapist, had set himself alight in his prison cell.
READ: Court dismisses Bester and Magudumana's urgent bid to have Showmax's 'Tracking Thabo Bester' canned
This week, makers of the documentary triumphed over two urgent applications filed at the Johannesburg High Court by Bester and Magudumana, seeking to advance arguments that the compelling documentary was an infringement of their rights to a free trial.
Bester faces several charges alongside Magudumana, which include fraud, defeating the ends of justice, escaping and violating a dead body, a matter which is set to be heard by the Free State High Court later this year.
In his court application, Bester maintained that the documentary had used narrations from a person listed on the indictment as a state witness, referring to Magudumana’s brother Nkosinathi Sekeleni.
The documentary notably uses eyewitness accounts of a former warden employed at the Mangaung prison, who narrated how Bester had been given special treatment at the former G4S-managed facility.
“I have been aware that one of the sources of the content of the documentary is a state witness in the trial, which I am presently facing, and that he was paid at least R300 000 to provide content for the respondent’s entertainment documentary, with further amounts due.
Bester said in court documents:
However, on Friday, Judge Stuart Wilson dismissed both urgent applications, citing flawed legal merits.
Wilson described the application as lacking merit by law but stated that he understood the “anxiety” felt by Bester, as the documentary talks about him and events of his life without giving him commentary.
READ: Thabo Bester says Showmax's documentary about his capture will harm his right to a fair trial
Wilson echoed in his judgment that, although arguments were thoroughly executed, Bester’s legal representatives failed to convince him that airing the documentary would prejudice his trial at the Free State High Court.
Wilson further ruled that the argument that suggested the documentary interfered with a state witness was also without merit as the content used was already in the public domain.
He said:
Magudumana and Bester made headlines after GroundUp exposed how the married aesthetics doctor and influencer had allegedly helped her inmate boyfriend fake his own death and escape from the Mangaung prison.
The state claims that Magudumana even procured bodies to assist in Bester’s escape plan and went to court in an urgent, but failed, bid to ensure that the true identity of the body set on fire in her lover’s cell was never discovered.
The documentary also shows that the infamous couple allegedly committed multiple scams, after Bester’s escape, which funded their luxurious life in Sandton.
After their escape plot was exposed, they fled to Tanzania together, where they were finally arrested by local authorities.
