By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday, dismmised Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s bid to declare her extradition from Tanzania to South Africa unlawful and invalid.
Magudumana approached the court last November, insisting that her rights were violated during her arrest and extradition alongside partner, the convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester in 2023.
Magudumana’s legal team argued before the SCA that she should be immediately released from custody and the charges against her be declared “null and void”.
In written arguments, they said her arrest in Tanzania in April 2023 (with convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester) and her “forced return” to South Africa was unlawful and invalid.
Her legal team previously raised this “disguised extradition” argument in the Bloemfontein High Court.
While that court concluded that officials had acted unlawfully, it held that Magudumana had consented to come back to South Africa, to be with her children, and that when she was handed over to Department of Home Affairs officials by the South African High Commission, she offered no resistance.
The SCA briefly handed down the judgment on Friday. The majority judgment dismissed the appeal with costs of the two counsels, while the minority judgment upheld the appeal.
Magudumana’s lawyer Machini Motloung says they will go back to the drawing board and consider whether or not to petition the Constitutional Court in a bid to challenge her extradition from Tanzania.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the judgment handed down by the SCA.
The NPA’s national spokesperson, Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga, said it also noted the minority judgment upholding the appeal.
“The NPA’s prosecution team will now focus on ensuring that the trial set down for July 21, to September 19, 2025, before the Free State Division of the High Court in Bloemfontein, proceeds without any unreasonable delay. Dr Magudumana and her co-accused are facing a total of 38 counts ranging from fraud, corruption, money laundering, assisting an inmate to escape, violation of the body, arson, and defeating the ends of justice,” Mhaga said.
The NPA said it is committed to ensuring that justice is not only done but manifestly seen to be done because of the alleged crimes’ impact on the rule of law and the victims.