Disclaimer: This opinion piece does not reflect the views of Kaya 959 and is not intended to harm or defame anyone.
Mapaballo Borotho
Beauty and the Bester is a thought-provoking, shocking, and suspenseful docuseries that shines a light on how easy it is to get away with crime in South Africa and the lengths that people are willing to go to get what they want.
Whether achieved legally or illegally, people will do whatever it takes to satisfy their desires or what they think they desire.
In this case, a South African celebrity doctor fell in love with a convicted criminal. Did she know this? Was she trapped, or was she just a fool in love?
Thabo Bester, known to many as the Facebook Rapist, is a convicted rapist and murderer who managed to escape prison seamlessly with the help of his lover, Dr. Nandipha Magudumana.
He earned the name “Facebook Rapist” because he lured women on Facebook, robbed them of their belongings, and raped them while threatening them with a knife.
In one of his confessionals in the documentary, he claims he used the knife just to scare the women because it made him feel good to be in control, insisting he never intended to harm them.
Yet, in 2012, he was convicted of the rape and murder of his model girlfriend, Nomfundo Tyhulu. In 2011, he was found guilty of raping and robbing two other women. Before his daring escape from the Mangaung Maximum Security Prison, he was serving a life sentence.
The Good Escape
In a country where Gender-Based Violence is a crisis, you would expect women to be up in arms, fighting to keep perpetrators behind bars. But not our “good doctor,” Nandipha Magudumana, famously known for treating celebrities’ skin at her luxury practice, jetting off on lavish trips, and attending exclusive events. She went to hell and back to make sure the love of her life was out of prison so that they could spend as much time together as possible before the inevitable return behind bars.
Nandipha knew she and Bester would eventually go back to prison. She has a medical degree after all. The question is: was she manipulated, in love, or scared for her life?
Social media has been ablaze with debates about whether the doctor was coerced or if she was simply blinded by love, believing in Bester’s innocence despite his record. After all, he’s a scammer and scammers know how to lie. But Nandipha is a grown woman.
She voluntarily went to the morgue to claim a body she knew did not belong to her, presenting it as her father’s. When the body didn’t match what could have passed as Bester’s “corpse,” she allegedly disposed of it in a local river. She went back and forth to the mortuary, collecting bodies as if they were oxygen to her lungs. Was this really done under duress? How, when Bester was living his best life behind bars? Personally, I think she knew exactly what she was doing.
Katlego Bereng, the burnt body found in cell 35, where Bester had been held before his escape, died from blunt force trauma to the head. To this day, the state has not determined who killed him. Could the celebrity doctor be capable of murder? Could she have been behind Bereng’s tragic death? Well, she stacked bodies like a gambler stacks chips at the table. I’m not saying she is capable of murder, but love can make a woman sprint barefoot through flames just to reach the warmth of her beloved. Magudumana did exactly that.
But was it truly love? I believe this was a case of academic smarts versus street smarts. And that’s probably how Bester managed to convince an accomplished doctor to help him escape prison.
Pearl Thusi’s story
Was Pearl Thusi aware of who she was dealing with when she encountered Bester, or was she oblivious? It’s a rhetorical question, but it’s worth asking. In a country ravaged by Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, when a man threatens you with a knife, but later backs down, what would you do? Report him to the police? Tell your friends? Or keep quiet out of shock and confusion? Not to project, but these are the options that come to mind. Some find solace in religion, and that was Pearl’s response. She thought faith would tame the monster in Bester, and instead, he walked free.
Her contribution to the documentary feels vague, which is why many think she’s not being honest. But what if that truly was her experience? After all, only she and Bester know the full truth of that encounter. I reached out to her on TikTok for clarity, but she wasn’t available.
Questions that remain
This documentary was meant to give us answers, but it left me with even more questions. Does Bester have different personalities shaped by his upbringing? Does he truly hate women, like he once claimed to hate his biological mother? Is this hatred what drove him to inflict pain on every woman he encountered?
Nandipha’s fall from grace is almost unbelievable. She was a woman who had everything many could only dream of. She claimed she met Bester at Wits University, but the institution has no records of him under any of his names, Tom Motsepe, TK Nkwana, or Thabo Bester.
Did she genuinely see the best in him, holding onto the hope that love can soften even the hardest hearts? Or was she truly scared for her life, playing along out of fear?
The thing is, Bester was behind bars. If she was scared, there were many ways out. Instead, she chose the road that led her straight to Bizzah Makhate Correctional Centre, a women’s prison in Kroonstad, Free State.
I think the docuseries would have been more impactful if the two central figures had been directly involved.
It’s always more compelling to hear the story straight from the horse’s mouth rather than a repetition of media reports we’ve already read. It would have been valuable to finally hear from Nandipha and Bester themselves, their reasons for the escape, and what was going through their minds as these events unfolded.
READ NEXT: MK Party seeks to block Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, claiming the Commission is unlawful
