Netflix's 'Beauty and the Bester' documentary air after court ruling

The three-part Netflix documentary true-crime series, "Beauty and the Bester", will not be interdicted from airing after the urgent applications were struck from the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, ruled this morning. 

Thabo Bester and his partner, Nandipha Magudumana, turned to court for an urgent order halting the screening of the series. It was argued on their behalf that Netflix should hold the series until their criminal trial has been disposed of.

However, Judge Sulet Potterill, after hearing arguments from Bester and Magudumana’s counsel that the series contains inaccurate, defamatory, and unsubstantiated claims and violates their constitutional rights, said the urgent applications submitted to the court were without merit and the urgency was self-created. 

According to Judge Potterill, the urgent application, which was brought by Magudumana’s counsel a day before the airing, placed undue pressure on the court and was wholly unreasonable.

Judge Potterill struck the urgent applications from the roll and made cost orders against both Mgudumana and Bester. 

Judge Potterill said information of the two is “firmly in the public domain” and added that substantive redress, including suing for defamation, is available in due course to the parties as the case law is clear in this regard.  

Judge Potterill said information about the two was in the public domain, which was set out in judgments in the bail applications and the appeal against the failed bail applications. 

“No judge will be influenced by any documentary. Witnesses will be exposed to cross-examination, the public will form an opinion, but that is a by-product of the criminal justice system and does not affect the rights,” she said.

The two are scheduled to return to the Bloemfontein High Court next Friday. 

They are awaiting trial on several charges after they were arrested in 2023 in Tanzania following a series of events that had shocked the nation. This includes Bester’s notorious prison break from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, where he served a life imprisonment term for rape and murder convictions.

chevon.booysen@inl.co.za