Court Dismisses Bester And Magudumana’s Bid To Block Netflix’s ‘Beauty And The Bester’

Netflix’s highly anticipated true-crime series Beauty and the Bester will air as scheduled after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria struck Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana’s urgent application from the roll on Friday.

The pair had approached the court seeking an interdict to halt the release of the three-part documentary, arguing that it should only be aired once their criminal trial concludes.

Judge Rules Against Urgency of Application

Judge Sulet Potterill dismissed their bid, ruling that the urgency of the application was self-created. She found that filing the case a day before the series’ release placed “undue pressure on the court” and was “wholly unreasonable.”

Bester and Magudumana’s legal team had argued that the documentary contained defamatory and inaccurate claims that violated their constitutional rights. However, Judge Potterill ruled that their application lacked merit and ordered them to pay legal costs.

“The information of the two is firmly in the public domain,” Potterill said, adding that substantive remedies such as defamation suits remain available.

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The judge further emphasized that “no judge will be influenced by any documentary,” noting that witnesses would still face cross-examination and the justice system would not be compromised.

Bester and Magudumana are due back in the Bloemfontein High Court next Friday. They face multiple charges following their 2023 arrest in Tanzania, which came after Bester’s infamous escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, where he was serving a life sentence for rape and murder.

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