By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Johannesburg High Court has dismissed the application filed by convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana to have the Tracking Thabo Bester docummentary canned.
In handing down judgment, Judge Stuart Wilson said Bester’s escape from custody, how it was achieved, the characters involved and what happened after have been a matter of public interest.
Wilson said Bester and Magudumana have shown no legal basis for their application.
He said Bester and Magudumana’s papers showed a “generalised anxiety” about the Showmax documentary and they failed to prove that they would suffer real prejudice if the documentary aired.
“As a result, their bids to interdict the documentary broadcast must fail.”
The judge declined to order costs against Bester and Magudumana in the case, after pointing out that “they were both inmates.”
“Whatever the applicants have done, and whatever appropriately be said about ther conduct and character, and in this a great deal may be said, the doors of the court are open to everyone and I will not depart from that principle from this case or risk departing from it by making an adverse court order.
“For all of those reasons I make the following order, the applications are dismissed and each party will pay their own costs,” Wilson ruled.
Steven Budlender, Group General Counsel representing MultiChoice, said they were delighted that the Johannesburg High Court has upheld the public’s right to watch the ‘Tracking Thabo Bester’ documentary.
“The fascinating documentary will shed light on the allegations against Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana and allow the public the opportunity to make up their own minds and opinions about what took place,” he said.
The four-part documentary features interviews by GroundUp journalists Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn, prisoners and prison officials at the Mangaung Correctional Centre and the family of Katlego Bereng Mpholo, the man whose burnt body was found in Cell 35, the cell Bester occupied whilst in confinement.
Speaking about the documentary and the state of the South African prison system, director Nikki Comninos, who made her Showmax Original debut, expressed concerns.
“We tend to discuss Thabo Bester like it’s an isolated case, but it’s clearly not,” says Comninos.
“Bester has been depicted as some kind of anomaly for being able to run a business while incarcerated, but so did Dawie de Villiers – also a convicted rapist who lured his victims online – at a completely different prison. This raises questions about what is happening with the South African prison system.”
The premiere of the first episode of Tracking Thabo Bester is scheduled for 15 March 2024, exclusively on Showmax.