A daring prison escape
Undetected for nearly a year
The so-called facebook r*pist
Lived the high life, it seems,
Both in and out of prison.
Following a series of
Exposes by groundup,
The correctional
Services department
Has now confirmed that
The badly-burned body
Found in thabo bester's
Mangaung prison cell is not his.
There were no signs
Of smoke inhalation,
But his internal organs, such
As the pancreas and the spleen,
Were in the early
Stages of decomposition.
Has the department of
Correctional services
Been engaged in a cover-up?
There is no cover-up.
Government is embarrassed.
It's an embarrassing situation
That a convicted criminal,
Who was sentenced to life and
75 Years, escapes from prison.
Those with any information
That can assist
Are being asked to come forward.
"The couple look
Like any other."
They smile and exchange
A knowing look.
But rather than
Thoughts of romance,
Is the knowledge that police
Are hot on their tails.
Yes, that's right.
Today we're diving into a case
That has captured south africans.
The story of dr
Nandipha magudumana
"And her lover, the r*pist
And m*rder*r thabo bester."
"Dr nandipha magudumana, once
Revered as a celebrity doctor"
With accolades and fame,
Now stands as an enigma.
In march, 2023, a series
Of events began to unravel,
Casting shadows over
Magudumana's glittering facade.
A fall from grace that
No one saw coming.
"The search for bester and nandipha
Becomes a national obsession."
Dr nandipha, thabo bester..
It's a movie, guys.
Their body was found
Bound, gagged, and beaten.
They had 57 stab wounds
In their abdomen, chest
Her arms were cut off,
Her legs were cut off,
Her ears were cut off.
Mm-hm. Now that's what
I'm talking about.
I'm nicole engelbrecht
And you're listening to
"True crime south africa".
What we're starting to really
See is a shift, globally,
To a more ethical true crime.
And I think what I've noticed
Is that it's become almos
Empowering for my listeners
Because I think as south africans,
We can often feel very disempowered,
Feel very much like criminal
Elements are taking over our country
And there's nothing we can
Really do to protect ourselves.
And true crime is a small way of
Being able to take back these stories
And then also understand how
These perpetrators develop.
I think that what we've
Come to understand
Is that these perpetrators aren'
Necessarily born, they are made.
And, you know, the more we
Know about people like this,
Perhaps the better equipped
We are to "a", avoid them,
And maybe avoid becoming them.
Dr nandipha, let's
Get to your story.
I am dr nandipha magudumana.
I was born in a small village
Called bizana in the eastern cape.
We were all born
In the transkei.
I'm one of four, and nandipha
Is my younger sister.
After apartheid, my
Parents figured ou
That life was better on the other
Side of the river, better schools.
And we moved to
Port edward, kzn,
And we were the first black
People to buy a house there.
So I'd consider my parents and our
Family the so-called middle class,
Because my parents
Were both educators,
And then they advanced
Their professions
By becoming chief
Education specialists.
Since nandipha was very, very young,
She's always wanted to be a doctor.
I remember we took one of
Her dolls and cut it in half,
And there she was, trying
To stitch it back together,
And getting my mom
Upset, of course.
I spent most of my school career
Working towards getting
Into medical school.
In high school, I started
Working at a pharmacy,
And then there was also a
Hospital next to my school,
So I would take time and
Do community service there.
Were you and nandipha close?
I would say so. We
Were very close.
We're the only siblings
Out of the four
That are round
About the same age,
Which makes us sort of
Peers in that sense.
Nandipha was always a go-getter.
She always liked nice
Things, even in varsity.
She'd make her spare
Money through modelling.
So yeah, I finished, and then
I worked as a junior doctor.
I did my internship
Community service.
And it was then when I realised
That actually, I want to do
What I'm passionate about,
Which is aesthetic medicine, which
Is something that's fairly new.
- It's a discipline
- What's that?
So we make people beautiful.
- That's what we do.
- Okay.
- Damn, damn, damn, damn.
- Yeah.
I started introducing
Her to the media space.
Journalists were interested,
So I would hook her up
With media exposure.
My parents always emphasised that,
"We love all of you equally",
But you would see tha
There is favouritism.
Nandipha was a millionaire,
So whatever we say..
Comes after she says.
If she says something,
She's spoken, and that's it.
Her business was booming.
She had notified us as a family
That she's got a mentor
That lives in new york city
By the name of tk nkwana,
Which was supposedly a
Property and media mogul.
And then I opened a property
And investment company,
Which is something that
I'm very passionate about,
That I'm currently running.
So I'm concurrently running
Two companies at the same time.
The so-called tk
Nkwana that we knew,
Nandipha would explain that he grew
Up without a family or parents.
And he was trying to
Be part of our family,
In the sense that he would even call
My father "dad" and my mom "mom",
And, like, "I've never had parents,
And you guys have become my parents."
And you could speak nothing
Ill of this tk nkwana
Because he was
"Literally" family.
Her children used to call him
Pineapple. That was his nickname.
And during video calls,
Nandipha would say,
"Don't you wanna
Speak to pineapple?"
On nandipha's streaming account,
They chose to be the girls' account,
Mummy's account,
Which is nandipha,
And then there's pineapple on
The side. That's his nickname.
And when you go through pineapple's
Account, it's all crime series.
It's all crime series.
So I guess he was getting tips.
Did you guys ever ask
Her how she met tk?
Um.. I.. I did ask. And you
Never got a clear answer.
I don't ever remember getting a
Clear answer on how she met him.
And if you sort of
Speak like that,
It's like, "oh don't ask. You
Guys keep asking questions."
"Stop asking
Questions," she'd say.
My theory is thabo bester
Was snooping around online
While he was in jail and though
That he could use her somehow,
And did exactly that. They me
Online. That's what I think.
What we do know for a fact,
Because the prison visitation
Records indicate it,
Is that magudumana started
Visiting bester in prison in 2017.
And she visited him several
Times in the coming years.
There was even one booking
That was on valentine's day.
So what is the one habit nearly all
Successful people have in common?
In 2017, the first of the companies
That magudumana and bester
Would both be involved in
Were registered by magudumana.
So before magudumana started
Visiting bester in prison,
He received many other visitors.
Many of these visitors were women
Either involved in media or business,
And he had reached out to them
With a business opportunity.
But in all of those cases,
Once it became clear who he
Was, those relationships ended.
What I have seen time and
Time again in this case,
Is that people knew that thabo bester
Was either doing things in prison
Or was communicating too closely
With people outside of prison
Where they could've
Been doing things.
And not a single person went to the
Department of correctional services
And said, "I know for a fac
That this guy is hosting
Parties from his jail cell."
Bester had apparently told people
That the reason he was in jail
Is because he had taken the
Fall for a politician's son.
Lots of tea.
How did you find tha
Out? Who told you that?
So that information came
From several sources,
And people had also emailed
Us using pseudonyms,
Telling us that bester was
Connected to several politicians.
I think nandipha believed that.
She actually really
Believed that this guy,
After she had found out,
Obviously, that he's in jail,
That this guy had been
Wrongfully accused and sentenced.
And I believe that made I
A sort of exciting factor,
You know, sort of thabo
Bester glorifying himself,
As if he's the victim here.
I think he reached out to
Nandipha as the businessman.
I think nandipha was
Just an instrumen
To do whatever he needed to do
To make money and
Get out of jail.
The romance scams
Have conned people out of
Tens of millions of rands,
Not just in south
Africa, but worldwide.
And it's been
Happening for decades.
And what they do is they star
Looking for a specific victimology,
And they groom her. They look
At what her interests are.
They look for something tha
The person would find in common.
Chances are he really
Studied nandipha
And discovered her weakest poin
Or her weakest need at that time.
And they set them up
Over a period of time.
It could be three months,
It could be six months.
And that's when
The fraud comes in.
And we see these romance scams
Under different guises all the time.
Guys, you have to
Be so discerning
When you are choosing to
Follow somebody online
And to believe the things
That they are saying.
Guys, listen, one thing
About instagram influencers,
Those people can lie.
Stop idolising these
Social media influencers
And people that are famous,
Because you do not know what
They do behind closed doors.
You've gotta ask yourselves
The lifestyle that they live
On these social media apps.
You do not know what they
Do to fund those lifestyles.
Everybody was so shocked about
The whole dr nandipha thing
Because they were like, "how can
Somebody so beautiful," right?
Because apparently being shady
And living a double lifestyle
Is only for, like,
Bad-looking people.
I mean, for a
Woman to go through
Whatever extent she
Went through for a man,
I guess she is in love with him,
Or in love with the
Whole scenario, maybe.
If I tell you I'm an ex-convic
Or I have a criminal record,
You will think twice, right?
So I must give you the
Imagination and the fairy tale
That's going to sell
For me to get you,
And for you to be fully
Immersed in what I am offering.
And this opportunity,
Through thabo's involvement,
Expanded the idea of wha
Wealth could look like.
The idea of being the next big
Doctor, the idea of material gain.
With her banking profile,
With her access to
High-profile individuals,
The banks wouldn't question the fac
That, her being an entrepreneur,
Would suddenly have large amounts
Of monies coming into her accounts,
Or the fact that she was
Opening new companies
That suddenly had large
Amounts of money coming in.
That would be expected
Of an entrepreneur,
It would be expected of
Somebody who's an influencer.
And when you look at fraudsters,
They find somebody who have a network
Or a group around them tha
They can now manipulate,
That they can have access to,
So that they can monetise it.
And she had all of that. So
It was the perfect match.
So I think then the downfall became
Nandipha falling for this imagination
Of whatever that was
Then presented to her.
As much as one can believe she
Was groomed in the initial stages,
She became fully
Aware of who he was,
And the public needs
To ask themselves,
"What would you do
If you found ou
The person that you've now had
An online relationship with
Turned out to be
Somebody that the state
And the people at large
Regarded as a monster?
I think most people would
Try distance themselves
As quickly as possible.
So there is a known
Phenomenon in the world
Where women become
Interested in male offenders,
And it's often very much
The offenders that have committed
Particularly violent crimes,
Usually where their victims
Were female as well.
I realised why women love
Serial K*llers so much,
And it's because it's the first
Man we've ever seen who can plan.
Even in south africa, we've seen
With the oscar pistorius case,
There was a huge
Female following
Where they just are
Adamantly supportive of him,
Despite what he has done.
Are these women genuinely jus
Seeing the man behind the crime,
Or are they drawn to that person
Because they are the perpetrator?
I put the rope over the seat,
And then I put it around
His neck and I pulled tight.
Hardly ever do we
See these women
Getting to the point where they
Actually want to break them out
Or they'll play a role in that.
Don't judge people!
You are a person!
They are a person!
I'm a person! We're all persons!
So I found this website
Called write a prisoner.com,
And you can literally just, like,
Browse through a load of inmates
In prison all over the usa.
What's up? My
Name's ryan. I'm 26.
I'm looking forward to
Meeting some of you all.
So how many prison
Pen pals do you have?
Three or four.
I already had at most, like,
About nine or ten at once. Yeah.
Well actually, my sister was
Writing people in prison,
And so she just talked
Very openly about it,
And she talked about the
Us criminal justice system.
And that's how I kinda got, you know,
Myself into it, interested in it,
And I got a passion for it.
I was against the death penalty, so I
Wrote to someone who was on death row
Because that was the only thing
That I could do to "help".
I thought I might become
Friends with someone,
I might be able to help someone.
And at the time, I mean,
I was living in france,
And I thought, "and it's a
So let's go for it!"
So my very first pen
Pal, when I wrote to him,
I actually did no
Know his crime.
I just knew because you're on death
Row, you know, that it's a m*rder
And something else added to
It. But I really had no clue.
And I found out seven years later
When I decided to google him.
In this case, it was
r*pes and murders, plural.
So that was
It was hard to reconnect the
Person that I knew with the crimes.
It was scary, but my intent is to
Support someone who is on death row,
Whether they are
Innocent or guilty.
So it was importan
For me to go on.
I specifically
Looked for someone
Who had a
Life-without-parole sentence,
And who had been incarcerated
Since the age of 18.
That must be so awful,
That you are 18 years old,
And we're telling you tha
You're gonna die in prison.
I thought I was going to
Write someone in prison
To bring them something,
And I realised that it's
A win-win situation.
Like, they have something to
Benefit from it, but I did too.
And I learned so much abou
The criminal justice system,
And about what is
Going on in our prison.
And when did you
Start to realise
That there's actually
An activism involved?
By writing someone in prison
By writing someone in prison,
I feel like you learn a lot.
I've learnt so much.
And I met sigrid along the way who
Was also writing people in prison.
It was in 2014, and
We became friends.
And in 2019, I feel like
We were both ready to
You know, to play a bigger role.
And that's when we decided
To create wire of hope.
So you can scroll and browse
The profiles on our site
Click their picture to
Open their profile
And find someone that you
Would like to write to
That you think you
Could connect with.
We believe people are more than
The worst action of their life.
Community gives us a sense of
Belonging and a sense of behaviour.
A community becomes a place of
Belonging and is a place of fixing.
There's a saying in isixhosa,
"Umuntu ulungiswa ngabantu."
That is, when someone does
Wrong, particularly a child,
I can discipline that child.
I don't need, necessarily,
To be a biological paren
Or a biological
Aunt or a relative.
I can take the responsibility
Of correcting that behaviour
And helping this child
To become better.
Whereas on the
Other spectrum is,
"I'll operate in my world
And do as I please."
'Cause 95 percent of the
People currently incarcerated
Are going to be
Released eventually.
That means that whether we like it
Or not, those men and those women
Are going to be living in our
Communities at some point.
For some people, it's really
Hard to wrap their mind around,
"How can you reach out to
Someone who committed a crime?
What about the victims? We
Need to help the victims."
Yes, we do, of course.
But we can do both.
A letter is a lifeline,
And it can mean the world
For someone incarcerated.
We are here to give you the keys
To the best and safest
Experience possible.
It happens tha
People do fall in love
After being simple pen
Pals to begin with.
We then see the
True description
Of unconditional positive
Regard and unconditional love,
That when this person comes out, this
Person will come out as a better man.
You know, at the end of the
Day, I'm gonna be telling you,
"Do you!" Like, if that's
What you wanna do, go for it.
Just be careful."
- This is your man?
- Yes.
Look at the screen.
Mm.. That's mine.
And I'm gonna stick beside him.
And that's what you're
Gonna settle for?
I'm gonna stick beside him.
Thabo bester's story
Is definitely giving a bad
Name to programmes like us,
Because then people
Associate it.
They're like, "oh people
In prison are bad,"
And they manipulate
People on the outside,
And those websites are
Just helping that happen,
When this is not wha
We're trying to do.
It can be an expl*sive situation
When you have a person who is
Only looking at using and abusing,
And a person who is only looking a
Giving, you know, and being loving.
So when did things
Start to fall apar
- Between her and her husband?
- Um.. I wouldn't have a timeline
Because I didn't even know
That things were falling apart,
If you know what I mean.
Even though she is a loving
Person, don't get me wrong,
But to get her to talk abou
Her feelings and emotions,
That's not nandipha. Yeah.
Happy new month to you all.
I think we all go
Through challenges,
And some of us have had
Incredible challenges to overcome,
Especially during the pandemic.
Covid hit me.
As freelancers,
"No work, no pay",
And my wife was
Unemployed at that time.
So we moved into the cottage
At the hyde park mansion
While the renovations
Are taking place.
It's separate from
The main house.
And we sort of became an
Extra eye on the construction.
Everything was brand new in
That mansion. Everything.
They took down the chandeliers,
Put new ones, redid the kitchen,
Redid the floor, redid the
Stairs, redid the ceiling.
Like, it was made
Totally brand new.
Tennis court
Nandipha had explained tha
She had bought the mansion
As part of the arum property
Business with tk nkwana.
And tk nkwana wasn't really
Aware that we are living there.
At this stage, I'd just found
Out that he was thabo bester
And he didn't deny that he was
Thabo bester after I've caught him.
He didn't deny it. He said, "ja,
So? What are you gonna do about it?"
Type of mentality.
And then that's when I got, like,
A real sense of what's happening.
And nandipha calls my wife and
Says, ", take the kids and leave."
And this is like in may.
It's winter in joburg in may,
And we've got nowhere to go.
And I asked nandipha,
"Can't you give us at least until
End of the month so we find a place?"
And nandipha was like,
"No, tk has spoken.
And he doesn't want you here. He
Wants you to make room for zanda.
Zanda moyo, the garden
Worker, caretaker guy.
You need to make space for him."
Nandipha was like,
"You have to leave."
The following morning,
After we got kicked out,
That's when I wrote
The facebook post.
My lawyer saw I
And he was very angry,
Told me to get it down,
So I took it down, but someone
Had already screen-grabbed it,
And nandipha was
Very upset about it.
And she sued me.
Hence I went through court for
A whole year for defamation.
It is amazing that thabo bester
Was even able to use the south
African court of law for his lies,
You know, to defend his lies.
It shows how much
How much he thought he had
Influence on authority.
The family felt for me and they spoke
To nandipha to withdraw the case.
My mother had to beg her, and
Nandipha withdrew the case.
But then the npa didn'
Wanna drop the case.
Eventually, because nandipha wouldn'
Come to court to be a witness,
The magistrate felt like they're
Wasting his time and my time,
And he withdrew the case.
I think I told everyone in
The family it's thabo bester.
But no one listened
To me, and
Definitely the story in
Everyone's head in the family was,
"Nathi's jealous that he has
Never reached this type of success
And probably will never."
So it was just a "me" thing,
And a bitter person trying
To dent nandipha's image.
Was he really just wanting to
Make sure his sister was safe?
Or was he thinking,
"Maybe if I publicly voice my
Knowledge of this situation,
I'll be offered some
Money not to talk"?
Nandipha magudumana's
Brother says
He can't remember exactly how
He asked his sister for money.
Nathi, I just want to clarify,
Do you dispute that you were
Extorting your sister for money
To keep this a secret?
Like I said, I was intoxicated
And I don't even
Remember what I was doing
'Cause of the emotions
I was going through.
To me, it was abou
Justice, fairness
About saving my sister, and
Especially about saving her kids,
Her two little daughters.
Brace yourself.
Today, the health professions
Council of south africa
Stated that dr
Nandipha magudumana
Is actually not a
Registered doctor currently.
Because she failed
To pay annual fees.
Now, the medical watchdog says
Those fees were due in april 2021.
We know, at this point, they
Were running other businesses.
Arum properties, what we now know is
A fraudulent construction company.
There were media companies
That were being run as well.
So it's very possible tha
Her attention was drawn
Completely away from her
Career as a medical doctor.
It could also be pure arrogance.
We've seen quite a lot of
The-rules-don't-apply-to-me behaviour
From dr magudumana.
Something that we need to
Remember about this whole period
Where dr magudumana was
Engaging with thabo bester,
She was essentially soccer-momming
And doctoring during the week,
And perhaps on weekends
Visiting a convicted serial
r*pist and m*rder*r in prison.
I did know that nandipha would
Go on holidays in bloemfontein,
But to me it was mind-boggling,
Because what's in bloemfontein?
She's the type of person
Who would go to bali,
Or if it's in south africa, she'd
Be in zimbali or in camps bay.
When I put the dots together, bester
Was incarcerated in bloemfontein.
It now makes sense why she
Would go to bloemfontein,
Even book a hotel for
The kids in bloemfontein.
There's reports of an invoice
From tredenham boutique
Hotel in bloemfontein,
Not too far from the prison.
The booking was in
The name of tk nkwana,
And the date of the booking was
Two months before the escape.
So it appears, jus
By looking at that,
That thabo bester posing as tk
Nkwana, stayed at that hotel.
We started investigating it and we
Tried our best to verify that theory.
I think it would be premature
To say with certainty,
That bester had weekends
Away with magudumana.
The persona of thabo bester
Has been built up and padded
With a lot of myth-making,
Whereas a lot of those
Myths are not true.
We spoke to prison
Wardens at the prison
Who said it's nearly impossible.
So there's very little evidence
That bester was actually
Allowed out of the prison.
"In the days leading up to
The easter weekend, 2022",
Celebrity doctor,
Nandipha magudumana,
Arrived in bloemfontein.
On wednesday, the 13th of april,
Nandipha checks in at the
Tredenham boutique hotel.
"She'd booked online
Using the name tk nkwana."
We know that she checked in
Because she used her id
Document at the check-in counter
And they took a copy of it.
"She claims the body
Of an unidentified man"
At the government
Mortuary in bloemfontein.
A burial was held at a
Cemetery in bloemfontein,
But the coffin with the body
"Was swapped for one
Filled with boerewors."
Police say that magudumana's
Car was spotted at the cemetery
When this burial took place.
How much boerewors
Would you have to buy
For it to be the amount for a
Body, and how much would that cost?
Yes. Especially given that mea
Is so expensive in south africa.
It raises questions as to how much
Money they spent buying boerewors,
And how much boerewors was used,
So that it could actually seem as if
It was an actual body in that coffin.
Everything that they've done is
This flashy display of their wealth.
"On several occasions
Over the next few days,
The cctv cameras in the
Prison's broadway section
Stop recording periodically.
Was this a failed attempt?"
We have reason to
Believe that that body
Would've been used in
Plans for bester to escape.
But something went wrong and that's
How the body ended up being dumped
In a river near bloemfontein.
"The body was
Discovered by police,
Still with its morgue
Identification tag attached."
Then, about 20 days after
Claiming the first body,
She claimed a second body,
This time from the national
Hospital in bloemfontein.
"She told officials
That the body belongs to the
Brother of her friend, zanda moyo.
This friend is
Also her gardener.
"Again, she conducts a
Funeral, swapping the body"
With three 10kg
Bags of maize meal.
It seems that this body was
Destined for mangaung prison.
It seemed as if nobody had
Claimed these bodies for a while.
It is possible that she
Had inside information
And knew exactly which
Bodies she had to claim.
There's no explanation as to how
This woman is claiming bodies
That have no relation to her,
From hospitals and morgues,
Unless she's already
Dealing in human parts.
Are the things tha
Have happened here,
The claiming of bodies
In the doctor's name
For the dumping in the river,
Is that breaking the
Doctor's moral code?
It is a noble profession
And that's what we teach the junior
Doctors every day.. Every day,
Because the minute tha
Somebody comes to you for help,
Already they have
Subjected themselves to you
To make decisions on their
Behalf, or with them.
So if you are to hold tha
Much power or authority
Over another human being, it requires
A certain level of integrity.
Just ubuntu. You must be able
To see the other in the ligh
That you want to be seen in.
To claim a body that is no
Your next-of-kin and dump it,
Is breaking all of those codes?
A more serious one
Is, the human remains
Are governed in a very specific
Way that is detailed by law
In order to protect the righ
Of the deceased and the family.
Be it blood that has been
Taken for laboratory testing,
Be it a limb that has been
Amputated, be it a stillborn
So in it,
I don't think disposing of a
Body in an unconventional way
Will be looked a
In a good light.
A person is still a human being,
Whether they have go
A heartbeat or not.
With how things have unfolded,
I think she does present with traits
Of antisocial personality disorder,
And I think in this case,
There's been a disregard of
Norms, there's been impulsivity.
It calls for a deeper
Analysis and examination of,
"What was her mental
State at the time?"
And if she was well in terms of how
She can think and process things,
Then we are privy to
Nandipha's dark side
Of knowing that she
Can be that cold.
You cannot forget that this
Was an organised crime.
They needed a lot of money
To pay a lot of people
In the ecosystem
That was involved.
It was a whole chain,
And the events had to take
Place in a specific manner.
They had to have bodies.
They had to have safe houses,
They had to have vehicles.
They had to have identity
Documents and passports.
And when you're talking abou
A maximum security prison,
The price just gets
Exponentially higher.
For them to have raised
Tens of millions,
Maybe even hundreds of millions
Of rands is not that unlikely.
They would've needed
To feel comfortable
That they had a significan
Amount of money in reserve.
You also need to understand tha
When you're dealing with criminals,
You know they could turn
On you at any moment,
And chances are people would
Blackmail them or extort them
Because they knew
That he had escaped.
So getting involved in the underworld
From the perspective of nandipha
Must've been exciting for her.
The way in which the
Underworld conducts themselves,
They're exceptionally charming.
They tend to lift you up
In terms of who you are,
Because they're playing to you.
They're understanding your desires,
They're understanding your
Needs, and they playing to that.
Their victims don't realise tha
They've let the con artists know
Exactly what it is
They're looking for.
More shocking evidence
Has come to light
Regarding nandipha's
Involvement in the whole affair.
The body was allegedly
Put into bester's cell
And burned beyond recognition,
Making it seem that bester
Had committed suicide.
But meanwhile,
Bester had escaped.
Around the 5th of may, magudumana
And her father, zolile sekeleni,
Went to the free state morgue.
They told the
Officials at the morgue
They were there to
Collect bester's body.
Magudumana said that she
Was on his contact list.
So magudumana took the body from
Bloemfontein to a morgue in soweto.
Police realised two things.
One, they had the
Autopsy results
Which showed that the body was
Dead before the fire broke out.
And, two, they saw this
Was not the first body
That magudumana had
Claimed in recent weeks.
There were plans made to send
That body to a crematorium,
Which would make sense
Because nothing would trace tha
Body back to her in any possible way.
So I think that that's why
She wanted to get that body
Back with so much urgency.
When magudumana's
Father, zolile sekeleni,
And an assistant went to collec
The body from the morgue in soweto,
They were stopped by police.
Magudumana then
Called her lawyer,
And the two decided to launch
A high court application.
And we sent one of our reporters
To visit the high cour
To try and access those papers.
And he spent nearly
The entire day
Trying to get hold
Of these documents.
I just started reading
Through what nandipha said.
"Indeed, on the 6th of may, 2022,
I booked a flight to bloemfontein
To find out wha
Happened to the deceased
And also to collec
His mortal remains.
On arrival in bloemfontein,
"I had to fill in a number of
Documents as marked 'annexure vm4'."
It was so strange
To even think tha
She could possibly be
Involved with thabo bester.
It was not adding up whatsoever.
I still find it difficul
To believe this whole thing.
In her affidavit, she
Said that they met in 2006
While she was studying
At wits university,
And that the following year he
Went to cape town to study at uct.
This is obviously not true, because
Thabo bester never went to university
And in fact, he
Dropped out of school.
It was published in
Several media outlets.
How dr nandipha magudumana
Met thabo bester
Who is dr nandipha,
And how did she end up being the
Bonnie to thabo bester's clyde?
She met thabo bester while she
Was studying at wits university.
People eventually started thinking
That this must be the truth,
Because it didn't source
Nandipha's affidavi
As where the information
Was sourced from.
As the details came out,
We realised how reckless
The whole escape plot was,
And definitely hollywoodesque.
I mean, you've got pyrotechnics,
You've got costumes,
You've got fake bodies.
It's like a movie
Until it's a movie,
And then it's no
Like a movie anymore.
This entire saga started feeling
Like a true crime podcas
That we were living in.
Given the gravity of the
Story and the nature of it,
I could tell from the beginning
That it was important for me to
Only put on my investigative ha
Once I entered the office, jus
To strike some sort of a balance,
Because I could tell that I
Was going to affect things
Like my sleeping patterns
And just my daily operations.
I was able to stop the
Story from consuming me
Just by deciding
From the beginning
That I'm only going to deal
With anything bester-related
When I'm in the office.
And did daniel have the
Same kind of boundaries?
Did he manage to
Do the same thing?
You must speak to him because I
Think he'll give you a whole piece.
'Cause he.. Yeah, no.
For him, it was bester in
The morning, in the evening.
And I do remember that he was
Getting very little sleep.
The story consumed my entire
Life, even my personal life,
And I was perfectly happy for tha
Because it was fun and exciting.
But it all felt a bi
Overwhelming, actually.
Did you ever, and do you
Ever, get bester fatigue?
Mm. I've go
Bester-fatigue right now.
I do know tha
Towards the end,
He did start setting some
Boundaries for himself.
So I belong to a group of
Musicians who play irish music.
And that routine of
Playing every week
Helped me to just let thoughts
Come and go and to process
And it's very relaxing.
From quite early
After the escape,
They seemed to be living quite a
Luxurious, relatively public life.
There are reports that they drove
Around in porsches and rolls royces,
That bester treated himself to
Designer clothes and watches.
Magudumana started introducing
Bester to her friends and colleagues
As tk or tom.
Together they ran their
Company, arum properties.
At one stage on her instagram,
She posted a story of
Balloons on his birthday,
Not alluding to who it was for.
So everyone in her circle
Knew about this new character,
But didn't know
Who he really was.
It's almost as though
She enjoys the tease
Of the two of them sitting there,
Pointing their finger at the world,
And, you know, having
Got away with it.
Videos of thabo in the
Months after his escape
Are slowly but surely popping
Up all over social media.
"I was almost human
Trafficked by them!"
I even said, "I have voice
Notes and videos of him."
I met him,
And nandipha herself
Even called me
And assured me that
This thing is legit.
The "citizen" reported tha
Magudumana had, at one stage,
Bought a mercedes in 2022,
But defaulted on her payments.
That particular mercedes benz
Has been abandoned in zimbabwe.
And they tracked her down and
Confronted her in a restaurant.
I don't know if you
Wanna discuss this
In front of your colleague.
It's a personal matter
With carbon black auto,
Where you took the car over
The border to zimbabwe.
You're still outstanding r700,000.
There's a case opened against you.
- There's a docket against you.
- Mm-hm?
So we just wanna try and
Sort this out amicably.
- You can speak in front of him.
- Okay.
So you started paying
And you stopped paying.
And the car also is across the board
In zimbabwe with false number plates.
No.
The car's still
Standing at the border.
We've tracked the
Car to the border.
The hawks are on it, yeah.
And you see her very coolly,
Kinda shrugging him off,
And then.. And then
Eating her avocado toast.
This man done used dr nandipha's
Name and dragged her through the mud
And took her for everything!
There's the vehicle.
It's an s-class. S63 amg.
Never put your name, reputation,
And life on the line for a man.
It just got worse!
It just got worse!
Twitter is my morning newspaper.
I had just woken up
And I saw that bester and
Nandipha were trending again.
And there was this voice
Note making the rounds.
The aggression in the
Male person's voice,
Which has been alleged as
Thabo bester, comes across.
Clearly, the intent
Is to intimidate.
Whether it's a one-off event or
It's part of a continued pattern
That is a perfect example
Of emotional abuse.
The voice note continues.
So when this voice
Note first appeared,
There was quite a wave of
Changed opinion around nandipha.
Hey, you know,
I think it's time for us women
To have an honest conversation
About why it is that we are
Always attracted to bad men.
If it is real, it is possibly
Evidence of bester's tantrums
And episodes of
Narcissistic rage,
And shows, perhaps, the emotional
Power that he had over magudumana.
So we don't know the
Origins of that voice note.
I believe that the voice
Note is real. It's authentic.
I've spoken to thabo bester
On many occasions in the past,
And that's his voice, and no
One can tell me otherwise.
That voice is authentic.
If we're going to look a
Thabo's personality structure,
Coercive control is something
That fits the picture, clinically.
And for as long as nandipha
Needed to fulfil his functions,
There was no way she could
Leave that relationship.
It has to be thabo who
Would have not needed her.
Coercive control is a very
Sticky spiderweb that catches
Even the most intelligent and
Educated of men and women.
It is entirely possible that she
Purposefully committed these crimes,
Intended to commit these crimes, and
Simultaneously was somehow victimised
By some form of coercive
Control, a*usive behaviour,
Because those two things
Don't have to be separate.
They can exist in the same,
You know, time and space.
There's a master and one who
Needs to be a subordinate.
And I can imagine the
Psychological strain
That then came as a
Result of that control.
I know his anger and his tone,
And I know nandipha's tone
When she feels cornered,
Which means she was a prisoner.
A prisoner living freely.
Stop telling us that
Nandipha is a victim!
All these people that
Are busy telling us
That nandipha magudumana is a victim,
And thabo bester manipulates
Dr magudumana's professional
Reputation was quite heightened.
And one of the things that stood
Out to me in her representations
Was that she had a deep interes
In the health and
Safety of women.
I really advocate for
People and for women
At the same time, she was visiting
A serial predator in prison.
What's going on?
Is this woman being
Coerced? I don't know.
To me, this feels like..
Your partner in crime.
I'm not saying life is black and
White and there is no grey area,
But the lengths that she allegedly
Went through to assist him,
A convicted r*pist,
I can't confidently say
That I think she's an innocen
Victim in all of this.
As a psychologist,
Who would be the more
Interesting patient for you?
The more interesting patien
For me would be nandipha.
Because of her complexities,
Her background, her
Being a medical doctor.
But mostly, I would love to
Work on her rehabilitation,
As to how she's going to heal,
And how she's going
To help her children
Understand that social stigma,
The generational burden that then
Comes with the narrative of
I think that's what these
Children will suffer.
After we published
That article,
And after it became clear
That they'd escaped,
Everyone was trying to
Find out where they were.
Magudumana and bester
Fled the country
Two days after we
Published our article.
By this stage, even though we
Didn't know where they'd gone to,
We knew that they'd
Gone on the run.
Thabo bester and nandipha
Magudumana were trending on twitter.
Our phone was ringing off the
Hook at the office with tipoffs,
People claiming to
Have spotted them.
So the following day,
We got hold of the landlord of the
Home that nandipha had been leasing.
They said they had no idea
That it was thabo bester,
That the lease agreement was
Signed by magudumana and tk nkwana,
And that the contract was signed even
While bester was still in prison.
And he confirmed tha
After they had fled,
Bouncers had pitched up
And collected her things.
We were told that the
People who arrived there
Came in a blue light brigade.
They were wearing fancy
Designer shoes and watches.
Some of them were armed, but then
The landlord went to stop them,
Because some of the stuff
They were carrying out,
He said, belonged to him.
And there was a bit of
A physical altercation.
There are pictures of nandipha
And thabo bester that have emerged
As they were
Leaving the country.
You can see nandipha in the
Passenger side with sunglasses on,
Relaxed, chilled.
That doesn't look
Like someone who's
I don't know,
Afraid for her life.
So I think they
Fled south africa
With every intention of
Setting up life somewhere else
Under assumed identities.
Africa welcome
People with money.
They're not as stringent in
Their vetting requirements.
And I think this is what thabo
And nandipha were looking for.
They were looking for a
Country in the african contex
That would accept them, no
Necessarily know who they are,
But accept them for the fac
That they appear to be moneyed.
If you're moneyed and the perception
Is you can invest in that country,
Or you can start a business,
You can engage with the
Locals, employ people,
People tend to gloss
Over your background.
We were told by
Magudumana's brother
That magudumana had contacted
Her father from mozambique.
But even at that time,
We still had to take what he
Said with a pinch of salt,
Because he might have had a
Motive to protect his sister,
And perhaps he was purposefully
Giving us wrong information.
Nkosinathi provided us with
A mozambican cellphone number
That magudumana had supposedly
Used to contact her father.
And we shared this
Evidence with the police.
The police didn'
Acknowledge that evidence.
Around the same time, zolile
Did an interview with enca.
Nandipha magudumana's father,
Says he's really worried
About his daughter.
What did she say to you?
She said she's in hiding.
And are you perhaps
Worried about her?
How can I not be worried
About my daughter?
Although I did feel
Somewhat sympathetic
For zolile being concerned
About his daughter's safety,
I was also viewing him
As a person of interest,
Because in nandipha's affidavit,
She mentioned tha
Zolile and her assistan
Went to collect the body
From the morgue in soweto.
It was two weeks after
Magudumana and bester
Had vacated their mansion that the
Police went to raid the mansion.
We were hoping and believing
The government would
Be investigating this,
But it seemed that the police
Weren't doing anything at all.
And by this time,
Every news platform in the country
Had visited and had been in it.
I think a lot of south africans
Really believed tha
Was the end of it,
That we were no
Gonna get them back.
I think bester and magudumana also
Thought they'd gotten away with it.
And I think a lot of us,
Including me, thought,
"You know, well I really feel
Sorry for his victims now,
Because now he's ou
There living his life."
Prior to the fire,
Somebody got k*lled.
We still don't know who that
Somebody is, but these guys do.
One of the questions
That remained was,
"If it wasn't thabo bester's body
That was in the cell, whose was it?"
Breaking news this evening.
The police have identified
The charred body
Used in thabo bester's escape.
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01x03 - Episode 3
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South African true crime mini television documentary series based on the prison escape of Thabo Bester and his alleged accomplice, Nandipha Magudumana.
South African true crime mini television documentary series based on the prison escape of Thabo Bester and his alleged accomplice, Nandipha Magudumana.