In what reads more like an outlandish Hollywood movie plot, South Africa watched with morbid fascination as our very own Bonnie and Clyde played out.
Convicted murdered Thabo Bester, known as the Facebook rapist for his trick of luring women on the social media platform, was busted out of jail by his celebrity doctor girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana. The way she did it was outrageous, smuggling a dead body into a Bloemfontein jail, where a mysterious fire then “killed” Bester, who had already fled.
Magudumana then collected this body and had it cremated.
Meanwhile Bester and Magudumana were living their best lives, in a rented mansion in the posh suburb of Hyde Park, not far from where President Cyril Ramaphosa lives. Until GroundUp journalists Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn broke the story that Thabo Bester was very much alive.
The phrase “you can’t make this stuff up” perfectly describes this utterly improbable story – including the Facebook rapist being spotted in a Woolies at Sandton City and the picture was sent on to journalists.
Watch Tracking Thabo Bester on Showmax for R19/week – click here to learn more
As the sensational escape plays out all over the media and social media, the country was fixated on this modern-day Bonnie and Clyde saga – especially when Bester and Magudumana were caught trying to cross into Tanzania with false passports. All of this is captured in Tracking Thabo Bester, a fascinating Showmax original documentary that closely follows the excellent exposé by Damons and Daniel Steyn, who also wrote a book, The Thabo Bester Story: The Facebook Rapist, the Celebrity Doctor and the Escape from Cell 35.
The drama didn’t end with the murderer and his celebrity doctor girlfriend, who tried to sue Showmax-owner MultiChoice to prevent the four-part documentary from ever being broadcast. The documentary is produced by IdeaCandy, which has given us the excellent Devilsdorp, Steinheist and the equally gobsmacking antics of police woman Rosemary Ndlovu, in Rosemary’s Hitlist.
Written and directed by Nikki Comninos, Tracking Thabo Bester does an excellent job of capturing the intensity of this remarkable, “you can’t make this stuff up” saga.
