With the weather being this dreadful so early on into September, (summer really came to an abrupt end this year, didn't it?) you’re really going to need something to watch in the evenings while you keep out of the rain.
Thankfully, Netflix has your covered with something that could quite possibly be the most jaw-dropping true-crime documentary of all time.
In Beauty and the Bester, viewers are introduced to South African convict Thabo Bester, who was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu, as well as previous attacks on two other women.
However, things take an incredibly bizarre turn when it is thought he died by suicide in 2022 while in prison – but as authorities realise the evidence doesn’t stack up, things get even weirder.
Here, Cosmopolitan UK delves into the strange case, and what happened next…
Who is Thabo Bester?
Known in South Africa as ‘the Facebook rapist’, Bester earned the moniker for using the social media platform in order to lure in his victims. Bester would tell victims that he was a modelling agent and that he could offer them a lucrative contract. However, it quickly transpired that this was false, with Bester often robbing or sexually assaulting them. In 2012, he was sentenced to life in prison at the Manguang Correctional Centre in South Africa.
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Despite his infamy (Bester’s case was well documented), in Beauty and Bester, journalists reveal he was ‘popular’ in prison, and had many ‘fans’ coming to visit him.
What was Thabo Bester jailed for?
Bester was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for two counts of rape, and one of murder.
How did he escape?
In 2022, Bester was declared dead after a fire broke out in his cell at Mangaung Correctional Centre in the early hours in the morning. At the time, Bester was in isolation, with the body found charred beyond recognition.
While the body was initially claimed to be Bester, a post-mortem found some discrepancies. Firstly, the body that was found was 1.4m, while Bester was thought to be 1.7m.
Tests also showed that the body had sustained head injuries and there was no evidence of smoke inhalation – suggesting that the body was already dead before the fire.
Thirdly, a woman claiming to be Bester’s mother was trying to take her son’s body home – however, the DNA did not match.
However, it was suggested that Bester was allegedly helped to escape prison by Nandipha Magudumana, a prominent influencer and aesthetics doctor. She had too prompted suspicion in the aftermath of Bester’s ‘death’. Claiming to be his a customary law wife, she requested to have the body taken to a mortuary – however, police confiscated the body following the suspicious circumstances of the post-mortem. As Magudumana was already married to someone else, investigating officers found her lawsuit to claim the body suspicious.
After escaping prison, Bester was living in Joannesburg with Magudumana, living under the pseudonym TK Nkwaba in order to move around undetected. The pair were running a sham construction company titled Arum Properties, which according to South African publication GroundUp, scammed people into paying millions for construction projects that were never happening.
In 2023, following the release of photos of Bester and Magudamana shopping for groceries together in Sandton City in South Africa, the Department of Correctional Services were forced to admit that Bester had escaped from a maximum security prison.
The pair fled after news of Bester’s escape was made public, and were arrested while on the run in the East African state of Tanzania in April 2023. The pair were deported and are now awaiting trial on several charges - including violating a corpse, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.
They have not yet pleaded to the charges and are now in custody.
The body found in Bester's police cell was later confirmed by police in April 2023 to be Katlego Bereng Mpholo, who had gone missing in April 2022.
Where is Thabo Bester now?
While in custody, Bester and Magudamana have gone to court trying to stop Netflix for releasing Beauty and the Bester.
The pair claimed the three-part series ‘infringed their right to a fair trial’.
However, this was rejected by Judge Sulet Potterill – who said the pair may be able to sue for defamation but that she could not "find in any way that the screening of the utterances they find to make the doctor guilty affects her right to a fair trial."
Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
