The series follows events that turned Dr Nandipha’s life into a front-page story
Katlego Sekhu

Netflix has announced a new true crime limited documentary series, Beauty and the Bester, launching on 12 September 2025.
The series unpacks the rise and fall of Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
Once celebrated as a successful businesswoman and social media influencer with a picture-perfect life, Dr Nandipha’s carefully curated image began to unravel when suspicions arose about her role in Bester’s elaborate prison escape and double life.
The three-part series examines the events that shook South Africa in late 2023, asking the question: how did one of the country’s most admired women find herself at the centre of such a notorious scandal?
The series traces the chain of events that turned Dr Nandipha’s life into a front-page story.
From staged celebrity conferences and lavish living to the shocking escape of Thabo Bester from Mangaung Maximum Security Prison, the truth began to surface with one viral photo of the pair casually shopping at Sandton City.
That image sparked a nationwide manhunt, which ended with their dramatic arrest in Tanzania and extradition back to South Africa in handcuffs.
Beauty and the Bester features courtroom footage and investigative material.
Friends and family give exclusive interviews, each trying to make sense of the strange and unsettling bond between a respected doctor and her convicted partner.
Thabo Bester and his eight co-accused, including Dr Nandipha Magudumana, appeared in the Bloemfontein High Court on Tuesday, 17 June 2025, for a pretrial hearing.
Bester is accused of faking his death and escaping from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022, where he was serving a life sentence. He was later arrested in Tanzania alongside his partner and alleged accomplice, Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
The case has been postponed to 19 September 2025 to allow time for unresolved legal matters to be addressed.
READ NEXT: Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana back in court



