Convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester wants to stop Netflix from showing a documentary about him and his lover, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, as he argues it would strip him of his humanity and portray him as a beast.
Bester and his co-accused, Magudumana, have made an urgent application in the Pretoria high court to interdict Netflix from broadcasting the documentary scheduled to be aired on Friday.
Bester’s lawyer, Adv Moafrika Wa Maila, said the documentary would subject his client to serious defamation as the public would presume him guilty, despite the ongoing criminal trial.
I respectfully submit that there is no amount of money that will make people unhear that ‘Thabo Bester faked his death and escaped from prison’ or the fact that I am being stripped of my humanity and being portrayed as a ‘beast’ in this documentary
— Thabo Bester
In an affidavit read out by Wa Maila in court, Bester said: “Netflix has employed ‘crafty’ and ‘manipulative’ editing practices in the publication of this documentary, which can also be seen in the trailer where one of the commentators is shown to be asking the question: ‘Would you say you’re a danger to society’ and a video clip of myself is then superimposed immediately after stating something along the lines of ‘Yes, I would say so’ or ‘Yes, I believe so’.
“Putting this in perspective, there is a high likelihood that if the documentary is allowed to flight even for one hour, there are likely to be around more than 6.3 million South Africans who are subjected to these misleading and manipulated editing practices,” he said.
“I respectfully submit that there is no amount of money that will make people unhear that ‘Thabo Bester faked his death and escaped from prison’ or the fact that I am being stripped of my humanity and being portrayed as a ‘beast’ in this documentary, which fact can be inferred from the title of the documentary itself, which is adapted from the popular movie Beauty and the Beast.
“Additionally, no damages in due course will make people unhear and/or unsee any other one-sided allegations that are being made in the documentary.
“I believe that any reasonable viewer will conclude that I am inhuman and guilty as portrayed and would not be disabused of such views simply because I later successfully bring a claim for damages.”
Bester said that his right to a fair trial, human dignity and to be presumed innocent pending the outcome of the court case, would be affected by the screening of the documentary.
He then asked the court to grant him an interim interdict preventing Netflix from releasing or broadcasting Beauty and the Bester on Friday.
He also asked the court to direct Netflix to postpone broadcasting the documentary until after the criminal trial concludes.
Bester was serving a life sentence at Mangaung prison for two counts of rape and one of murder when he escaped, allegedly with Magudumana’s help.
The pair allegedly burnt the body of Katlego Bereng Mpholo and made it seem it was Bester who had died during the 2022 fire at the prison.
Bester and Magudumana — who is married to a fellow doctor and has two children — were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, in April 2023 after they escaped from SA.
Their trial in the Bloemfontein high court is expected to resume next week.
The Netflix case in the Pretoria high court continues.
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