Thabo Bester escape: Dr Nandipha ditched luxury car in Zimbabwe, defaulted on payments – report

By Agencies

In another bizarre twist in the search for convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, who escaped from prison last year, his girlfriend reportedly purchased a luxury car and abandoned it on the Zimbabwean side of the border.

According to a report in The Citizen, Dr Nandipha Magudumana purchased a R1.35-million Mercedes-Benz last year. She then reportedly defaulted on the payments and abandoned the car in Zimbabwe.

These details were reportedly confirmed by the dealership that sold her the car. Magudumana allegedly owes around R700 000 on the vehicle.

The move “point[s] to a plan to skip the country via the Zimbabwean border,” the report claimed.

According to The Citizen, footage obtained from a private investigator shows Magudumana crossing the border in January. She reportedly crossed back into South Africa on foot and was later picked up at a garage.

It also quotes footage, taken two months ago, in which Magudumana admits to defaulting on the car payments, claiming that a third party was involved in the agreement with the dealership and would make a new agreement. She said her aesthetic medical clinic in Sandton, Johannesburg, was struggling financially.

Earlier this week, police raided Bester and Magudumana’s former Hyde Park rental home.

News24 understands the raid, carried out by the police and a forensics team, began on Tuesday afternoon. Officers were said to be searching for their employee, who had not been seen since the couple left.

The couple vacated the plush Hyde Park home two weeks ago, after GroundUp lifted the lid on Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein on 3 May 2022. It was initially believed that he died in a fire in his cell. GroundUp, however, reported that Bester had a body brought into his cell, set it alight and escaped.

Bester pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and one of murder in separate trials in 2011 and 2012 and was sentenced to an effective life term.

News24 previously reported that Magudumana had been suspended from practising as a doctor for failure to pay her annual fees for two years.