Thinus Ferreira
On Friday morning Netflix will literally have about half an hour or less to toggle its South African documentary series from Storyscope to "off" if a judge decides to grant an interdict against the global streamer to release Beauty and the Bester.
Netflix plans to release the 3-episode documentary series Beauty and the Bester on Friday morning, 12 September at 09:00, chronicling the buzzy crime story of convicted criminal and rapist Thabo Bester and celebrity doctor Nandipha Magadumana.
Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magadumana, with separate lawyers, both brought an urgent interdict application against the release on Netflix of Beauty and the Bester on Friday.
The interdict application was heard on Thursday in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday, with a judgment that will be delivered very early on Friday morning at 08:30, giving Netflix South Africa very little time to halt its release if the interdict is maybe granted.
Netflix has refused to give media access to digital screeners of Beauty and the Bester beforehand for review purposes, with its PR company telling TVwithThinus this week that "Considering the sensitive nature of the subject matter of the series, unfortunately pre-release screeners are not available".
Weirdly, Beauty and the Bester's sensitive nature wasn't too sensitive for Netflix and Storyscope to produce a 3-part documentary series out of.
According to the logline from Netflix PR company Eclipse Communications, "The limited series seeks to unpack the rise and dramatic fall of Dr Nandipha Magudumana, a glamorous celebrity doctor whose entanglement with a convicted rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester, shocked the nation".
"Did the renowned Dr Nandipha get embroiled in Thabo Bester's prison break? This chilling documentary series examines the enigmatic ties that bound them."
Produced by Storyscope, Beauty and the Bester - a play on the story "Beauty and the Beast" - has Anthony Molyneaux as director, with Neil Brandt, Laura Colucci and Thandi Davids as executive producers.
The "Facebook Rapist" story makes for a compelling documentary series. In 2012 Thabo Bester was convicted for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu, a year after he was also found guilty of robbing and raping two other women.
Supposed to serve a life sentence, he somehow escaped in 2022 from the maximum security prison where he was held after a fire broke out that left behind a charred body.
But it wasn't that of Thabo Bester with the body that got switched and Thabo Bester living in Johannesburg, allegedly helped by Nandipha Magadumana. They were arrested in April 2023 in Tanzania after they tried to flee and were deported back to South Africa.
They are currently in custody and awaiting a criminal trial with charges ranging from violating a corpse to defeating the ends of justice and fraud. They have not yet pleaded to the charges.
On Thursday the court heard the lengthy application of both Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magadumana.
Judge Sulet Potterill noted that she is reserving judgment until Friday morning very early but was specific in asking Netflix exactly at what time it planned to release Beauty and the Bester globally on Friday, with the streamer indicating a time of 09:00.
Both Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magadumana wants Netflix's Beauty and the Bester to be shelved until after their latest court case is over, alleging that the Netflix documentary series would damage their reputations and might influence the outcome of their criminal trial.
They are due back in the Bloemfontein High Court next week Friday for their criminal trial.
Thabo Bester's lawyer, Advocate Moafrika Wa Maila, on Thursday told the court that his client's right to a fair trail will be compromised by the Netflix documentary series.
"There is no proof that he had escaped. He has not yet been convicted on this. There are many reasons why a person is no longer in prison, such as parole. The documentary is a kangaroo court," Moafrika Wa Maila argued in court.
Bester is replacing the beast in the children's story Beauty and the Beast, meaning my client will now be the beast. This is serious defamation," Moafrika Wa Maila said.
"This also shows this documentary tries to drive a certain narrative about Bester. If Netflix publishes this tomorrow, in just one hour, it means we are going to have many people see this and public opinion and a public court would have decided otherwise about Bester."
"We are standing in one corner of the truth because he is also not given a right of a response."
Nandipha Magadumana's legal representative, Advocate Mphendulo Mfeka, told the court that she had not pleaded to the criminal charges against her and has not been given the right to tell her side what happened.
Nandipha Magadumana apparently got paid by StoryScope that licensed the use of archive material like photos of her life.
Advocate Lerato Moela, also representing Nandipha Magadumana, told the court that the contract with StoryScope and Netflix gave Nandipha Magadumana the right ro review and provide input on the final documentary edit before its release - arguing that this licensing contract was now being used to prevent her from not seeing the final cut before release.
"The respondents, StoryScope and Netflix, rely on the licensing agreement to tell the applicant that if for any reason you have a right to approach the court, that licensing agreement blocks you from invoking that right."
"They seem to suggest that they have a right to veto the documentary. There is no subject who has any entitlement to veto a story about them. Especially a notorious figure. She was invited to comment and she elected not to."
Advocate Thembeka Ngcukaitobi, representing Netflix and Storycope, told the court that the production did ask Nandipha Magadumana to contribute towards Beauty and the Bester, and that she initially said that she would but later declined.
Thembeka Ngcukaitobi told the court that Beauty and the Bester contains nothing that isn't yet known in the public domain.
"This documentary gives the victims of Thabo Bester a platform to be heard after years of silence. To silence the film is to silence them again," Thembeka Ngcukaitobi said.
"Nandipha Magadumana was paid for use of archive material, so it is therefore unacceptable for her to turn around at the last minute."
Last year Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magadumana failed in another interdict application which was dismissed with cost, when they tried to prevent MultiChoice's streaming service Showmax and IdeaCandy from releasing the documentary Tracking Thabo Bester.
