By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has ruled that the application to halt the much-anticipated Netflix documentary Beauty and the Bester has been struck off the roll.
Judge Sulet Potterill delivered her judgment on Friday, exactly 30 minutes before the Netflix three-part documentary true-crime series hit South African screens.
Bester lawyer argued that Beauty and the Bester was defamatory, but the streaming giant defended its plan to release the three-part investigation.
Bester’s accomplice, celebrity doctor Dr Nandipha Magudumana is part of the court bid to halt the release.
Judge Potterill said, Bester and Magudumana’s last-minute application was “wholly unreasonable” and “without merit.”
Judge Potterill said information of the two is “firmly in the public domain” and added that substantive redress, including suing for defamation, is available in due course to the parties as the case law is clear in this regard.
No judge will be influenced by any documentary. Witnesses will be exposed to cross-examination, the public will form an opinion, but that is a by-product of the criminal justice system and does not affect the rights,” she said.
“The application is dismissed. The applicant is to pay the costs on Scale C.”
The three-part series is set to premiere on September 12, 09am South African time.
The limited series seeks to unpack the rise and dramatic fall of Magudumana, a glamorous celebrity doctor whose entanglement with Bester, shocked the nation.
Once hailed as a successful businesswoman and social media influencer with a picture-perfect life, Dr. Magudumana carefully-curated image started unraveling when suspicions about her role in Bester’s elaborate prison escape and double life came to light.
The three-part series dives into the events that shook South Africa in late 2023, leading to the question that continues to baffle the public: how did one of South Africa’s most admired women land at the centre of one of the country’s biggest criminal scandals?
Bester was convicted in 2012 for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu.A year earlier, he was found guilty of raping and robbing two other women.
Bester became known as the “Facebook rapist” for using the social networking site to lure his victims.
He was serving a life sentence when he escaped from a maximum security prison in 2022.
A fire broke out in prison, with the authorities finding a charred body that they thought was Bester’s. However, it turned out to be that of another person.
Undetected for a year, Bester then allegedly lived under an alias in South Africa’s main city, Johannesburg, helped by Magudumana.
The pair were arrested while on the run in the East African state of Tanzania in April 2023, and were deported.
They are currently in custody, awaiting trial on several charges – including violating a corpse, defeating the ends of justice and fraud. The two are scheduled to return to the Bloemfontein High Court next Friday.