Before crossing paths with Thabo Bester, Nandipha Magudumana had everything going for her: beauty, brains, and a successful business. She was also seemingly happily married, with two beautiful daughters.
Which is why the public have a hard time believing the celebrity aesthetics doctor would “throw her life away” for a convicted rapist, murderer, and fraudster.
Nandipha is facing charges of assisting Bester’s prison escape, fraud, corruption and violating multiple bodies.
Her relationship with the man known as the “Facebook Rapist” is explored in the gripping Showmax docuseries Tracking Thabo Bester.
TRACKING THABO BESTER: SHOCK OVER NANDIPHA’S ROLE
On Friday, 15 March, Showmax premiered its docuseries called Tracking Thabo Bester. However, the notorious criminal’s girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana, plays a significant role too.
The series explores how the high-profile doctor helped Bester fake his own death in 2022 by claiming multiple dead bodies, pretending to be his customary wife and harbouring him in her Hyde Park home. After being publicly linked to Bester, Nandipha then fled the country with him to Tanzania, where they were arrested last year.
With the help of Bester, she is also accused of running fraudulent businesses and events and duping multiple people, including medical colleague Dr Pashy.
On social media, many have expressed their disbelief over her involvement.
He’s a conman, so he’s going to be fostering relationships with people that have a benefit for him. He’s a mastermind manipulator. You can’t rule out how much influence he had over her.
However, another expert has shifted some of the blame onto Nandipha, claiming she is a sociopath with an anti-social personality.
In a separate interview, clinical psychologist Sath Cooper argued against the theory that the medical professional was under the influence of Thabo Bester.
He said: “It seems that she is somebody who would lie, would do things to cut corners, would be in a position to take the risk of going to the morgue and getting a body released into her custody.
“Now that takes chutzpah. It takes a lot of courage and to give up her own children in the way she has done. There’s much more to this than a convicted rapist and murderer enticing an innocent doctor”.
Cooper believes Nandipha’s “ego” convinced her that she could get away with her list of charges.