Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana seek urgent court intervention to stop ‘Beauty and the Bester’ documentary

With less than two weeks until the highly anticipated debut of the true-crime docuseries “Beauty and the Bester”, incarcerated duo Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana have filed an urgent court application to stop the release. 

Streaming giant Netflix is scheduled to premiere the docu-series on September 12; however, the couple argues through their legal team that the series contains inaccurate, defamatory and unsubstantiated claims and violates their constitutional rights. 

The matter is now set for a court hearing on September 9, just three days before the documentary’s airing. 

The gripping three-part documentary delves into the shocking 2022 prison escape of Thabo Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer, from the Mangaung Maximum Security Prison, and his lavish double life.

It also covers the nationwide manhunt that ended with their arrest in Tanzania in 2023, alongside his partner and celebrity doctor, Nandipha Magudumana.

According to Netflix, the series presents “courtroom footage and never-before-seen investigative material that peel back the layers of a story where love, manipulation, and corruption collide, culminating in a jaw-dropping incident that stunned the world.”

The trailer, which has already been released, features friends and family, including Magudumana’s father, Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, DJ Pearl Thusi and TV personality Penny Lebyane, opening up in exclusive interviews, each trying to make sense of the strange and unsettling bond between the respected doctor and her convicted criminal partner, Bester. 

The couple’s legal team have argued that the docuseries unfairly targets their clients and is designed for sensationalism rather than objective reality, while also stating that Bester was not given a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations within the documentary.

This is not their first attempt to block a documentary about their case. Previously, they tried and failed to stop the four-part docu-series “Tracking Thabo Bester”, which premiered on Showmax in March 2024.

However, the Johannesburg High Court dismissed their urgent application.

Judge Stuart Wilson ruled that the applicants showed only “generalised anxiety” about the documentary and that the publication did not pose a real risk of substantial harm to the administration of justice.

“Reading the applicants’ papers, I find almost nothing that even rises to conjecture or speculation,” Wilson said, dismissing the applications.

“There is no other right in the law to pre-publication approval, where a public figure, as Mr Bester arguably is, is the object of a media piece. Prosecutors have an overriding duty to ensure that the trial is fair in all respects,” Wilson said at the time.

As proceedings continue, the couple’s formal trial is set to commence on November 10 until March 29, 2026.