Thabo Bester & Dr Nandipha’s Relationship Timeline: From Wits "Meet Cute" to SA’s Most Wanted Fugitive Couple
- Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana have been making headlines since the news of the infamous Facebook rapist's audacious escape broke
- The couple went on the run but were eventually arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, before allegedly attempting to cross into Kenya
- From meeting for the first time at Wits University to running multimillion-rand scams together, Bester and Dr Nandipha's relationship was made for the big screen
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The evolution of Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana's relationship has perplexed and fascinated many South Africans. People have questioned why an intelligent, married and successful doctor would risk it all for a convicted criminal.
Source: Getty Images
To try to unpack Bester and Dr Nandipha's complicated lives together, Briefly News has compiled a detailed timeline of SA's Bonnie and Clyde's tumultuous relationship.
2006: Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha meet at Wits University
Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana's story reportedly began in the illustrious hallways of the University of Witwatersrand in 2006.
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Nandipha was well on her way to becoming a doctor and studying medicine at the prestigious university, while Bester allegedly ran a modelling and promotions agency, KAYA 959 reported.
It isn't clear what the nature of their relationship was when they met. However, Dr Nandipha allegedly worked at the promotions agency as a promo girl.
2011-2017: Bester and Nandipha lose touch with each other
As often happens in many relationships, Dr Nandipha and Thabo Bester's lives went in different directions and the pair lost contact in 2011.
During that time, they each went on to do different things. Dr Nandipha, on the one hand, was living her best.
From bagging a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Biomedical Sciences, a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from Wits to marrying the ultimate catch, paediatrician Dr Mhuseli Magudumana, in 2013, Nandiphawas doing well for herself, The Citizen reported.
Bester, on the other hand, was making a name for himself in a different way. 2011 was the year Bester was dubbed the Facebook rapist for luring beautiful young women on the social media platform with the promise of modelling jobs, only to rape and rob them, SABC News reported.
In 2011, Bester was convicted for the rape of two women. A year later, he was convicted of raping and murdering a model and his girlfriend at the time, Nomfundo Tyhulu.
Bester was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
2017-2021: Dr Nandipha reaches out to Bester, visits him in prison and has romantic getaways
It was in 2017 when Dr Nandipha started making baffling moves.
Despite still being married with two children and being the CEO of the successful Optimum Medical Aesthetics, Nandipha decided to hit Bester up in jail.
Dr Nandipha soon started making the long drives from Johannesburg to the Mangaung Correctional Facility in Bloemfontein, Free State, to visit the incarcerated Bester, EWN reported.
This is when South Africans suspect the duo's Bonnie and Clyde-esque love affair began.
Nandipha visited the convicted murderer and rapist regularly between 2017 and 2021.
During that time, Bester would periodically be let out of jail by corrupt G4S officials and book romantic getaways for the couple.
According to IOL, Bester would use the alias Tom Nkwana to book five-star hotels in Bloemfontein and Balito. The publication reported that both Magudumana and Bester booked rooms at the Ballito Hotel at least nine times between April 2021 and March 2022.
Nandipha suddenly stopped visiting Bester in prison in November 2021, six months before Bester faked his death and escaped.
2022 - Dr Nandipa and Thabo Bester shack up in swanky Hype Park hideaway
Source: Twitter
After his brazen escape from jail on 3 May 2022, which his ride-or-die meticulously planned, Bester swopped the Mangaung Correctional Facility for a swanky R12 million mansion in Hyde Park.
The couple allegedly lived together in the rented mansion and in June 2022, they were snapped buying groceries with Nandipha's young child at a Woolworths in Sandton City.
Source: Getty Images
While living their fugitive lifestyle, the couple didn't find it necessary to keep a low profile. On 4 September 2022, the couple threw a lavish dinner party for Dr Nandipha's 34th birthday.
Though the party was meant to celebrate Magudumama, this is when the cracks in the relationship began to show.
During the party, Bester allegedly assaulted Dr Nandipha in front of all her guests because of a seating arrangement mishap.
A friend at the party who allegedly witnessed the act of GBV also claimed that the escaped convict would routinely beat Nandipha in front of her children, Sunday World reported.
2023: Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha take their show on the road
Dr Nandipha and Thabo Bester's house of cards came tumbling down when a 16 March article by GroundUP speculated that Bester had not died in the prison cell fire and had, in fact, been living it up in Sandton.
The couple didn't waste time packing up shop as four days after the shocking revelation, Bester and Magudumana went on the run on 20 March 2023.
In their bid to flee capture, the couple jumped from country to country, starting in Zimbabwe and then moving to Zambia before they landed in the country they were apprehended in, Tanzania.
Source: Twitter
On 7 April, Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumama were arrested along with a Mozambican accomplice by Tanzanian authorities. The pair were allegedly planning to cross into Kenya from the East African country, The Citizen reported.
The Department of Home Affairs chartered a private jet to bring the fugitive couple home. Bester and Nandipha landed back in South Africa on 13 April 2023, IOL reported.
It is understood that those final hours on the private plane were the last moment the star-crossed criminal lovers spent in each other's company.
Thabo Bester allegedly threatened Dr Nandipha in unverified audio clip, SA questions authenticity of recording
Previously, Briefly News reported that a shocking audio clip has been making the rounds on social media and if it's real, it highlights a startling dynamic in Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana's relationship.
In the unverified clip posted on Twitter by @NowinSA, a man, allegedly Bester, can be heard threatening a woman, who the poster claims is Magudumana.
The man seemed angry that the woman blocked his phone calls and said he was driving to Johannesburg from an unspecified location to deal with her.
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Source: Briefly News
