I first heard of
Thabo bester
It must have been
Some time during 2011,
When initially his sort of
Crimes came to the fore.
So I was asked to come
Down and interview him.
I had a private camera
That I was using.
He was quite happy to
Talk, and ended up speaking
For probably jus
Under two hours.
Can you tell me the
Details of the cases,
The two r*pes, and
The r*pe and m*rder?
Well I can tell you
What he told me, but
I read the papers,
And I feel like
They're talking about
Somebody else, not me.
He was really not the
Most interesting person.
He really, for me, only even became
Interesting once he escaped prison
And we realised all the
Shenanigans that he'd been doing.
Our very own great houdini.
We don't even know what
His real name actually is.
This could never, ever
Have been pulled off
Without the complicity of
Others within the system.
When the thabo bester case
Basically exploded in the media,
All these details were coming
Out, almost blow by blow.
I was watching social media,
I was watching normal
People's response to this,
I was seeing how people kep
On sharing whatever story.
For me, the
Impression that I got,
It was as if people were
Watching this as entertainment.
Hello, true crime lovers.
Happy birthday ♪
Dear tom ♪
For a dead guy, he was
Sure living his best life.
Think tinder swindler meets
The dating game k*ller
Meets bonnie and clyde.
Not everyone who has
Heard about this case
Thinks that thabo is a villain.
Thabo bester is a genius.
"Oh my word. Look at this guy.
We cannot believe this
Man pulled this off."
And as a reporter on
Gender-based violence,
I've done a lot of research,
I've interviewed a lot of women,
I've seen gender-based
Violence in my community.
I've experience it,
You know, myself.
I don't simply work in
Media and, you know,
Don't think about wha
We do and how we do it,
Because it's always about wha
Angle are you going to take?
The media doesn'
Tell us what to think.
The media tells us
What to think about.
When I started to look up more
Details about the facebook r*cist,
I had to literally
Search for more info.
It was like the r*pes
Were not newsworthy.
A manhunt is under way
For convicted m*rder*r
And a so-called facebook
r*pist, thabo bester.
Bester escaped from the
And all I could think
About was those women,
His victims, especially the cases
That he was found guilty of
I imagined them going
Through that trauma again,
Because he's now
Front and centre.
Will the real thabo
Bester please stand up?
His face is now everywhere.
How scared must they have been?
For a lot of victims, I
Gives them some peace of mind,
To a certain degree, tha
He's gonna pay for his crimes,
That he's locked up, and then to
Find out, in a wave of media stories,
That no, this person is
No longer behind bars.
I think what we're forgetting in all
Of this is that he m*rder*d someone.
In this investigation, I
Felt that it was importan
To at least try to understand
What bester was thinking,
And that made me look a bi
Closer into his upbringing
And it sort of painted a picture
Which might explain why he decided
To turn to a life of crime.
Obviously, it doesn'
Excuse what he did,
But it did help give me
A bit of a better idea
Of why he decided
To turn to crime.
He was born on the
13Th of june 1985.
He was not born in the
Most ideal circumstances.
Thabo bester's early life and
The details surrounding I
Are relatively unknown,
But we have been able to speak
To his mother, meisie mabaso.
She told us that she was r*ped
When she was about 16 years old,
And that bester was a
Product of that r*pe.
So bester's circumstances from the
Get-go was already quite difficult.
According to his mother,
When she gave birth to him a
The chris hani
Baragwanath hospital,
She didn't have her pass book
With her, and because of that,
Bester's birth was
Not registered,
And he had not been
Given an id number.
Many people think
That this is an issue
Only affecting refugees or migrants
Or foreigners from other countries,
But in fact, there's several
Thousands of south africans
Who are struggling to even get birth
Certificates or identity documents.
You cannot live a meaningful life in
South africa without documentation.
Almost every encounter that you have
With an institution or a departmen
Requires you to produce some
Form of identity documents.
It can force a child
Into a state of isolation
Where you struggle to grapple
With your sense of identity
And your sense of belonging.
So for someone like thabo bester,
Who was essentially no one,
He's not registered,
He could become anyone.
m*rder*r and r*pist thabo bester
Is still keeping
Authorities on their feet.
Home affairs has said they don't
Have any record of his birth.
During the time
When thabo was born,
There were no home affairs.
This system was not there.
When meisie got a job,
She decided to leave the
Children behind with her parents.
His granny died, and
Apparently kind of
Really was a caregiver for him.
He's been looked after by
His grandfather, who,
According to him, was
A raging alcoholic
Who didn't even
Look after himself,
Let alone, you know,
A little kid who's
12, 13 Years old.
Didn't make sure
He goes to school.
And essentially, sort of,
Just.. He dropped out of school.
And then needed money,
So he started to hustle,
And he saw that if he was hitchhiking
In his school uniform, you know,
He could spin a story
To whoever stopped,
And they would give him r5 or
Whatever money that, you know
And he realised, "okay,
Hang on a minute.
I can use this as a way
Of generating an income."
And really, that.. His conning
Therefore started when he was,
You know, in his early,
Early, early teens.
He would walk around
And he would ask the
Residents there for money.
He said that he, as a
Child, had gone to sandton
And had been amazed at all these
Fancy houses and fancy cars,
And people in the entertainmen
Industry living this high life,
And he wants tha
For himself one day.
At some point in time, meisie wanted
Her children to live with her again,
But bester told her
That he hated shacks,
And that he was no
Going to live in a shack.
If you look around in
South africa today,
It's hard to imagine that there
Are just so many bad apples
Who are out there for
Their own personal gain.
At some point, it's the
Responsibility of our society to say,
"Why are we producing so many
Of these exploitative figures?"
It's because we live in a society of
Such harsh conditions of deprivation
Existing at the same time of
Such grand conditions of wealth.
And that inequality is, I think,
The link in this chain of causation,
Where many people then decide,
"You know what? This is a game
That is stacked against me
That I am going to learn to
Perfect and master for my benefit,
And I'll do what I
Takes to make it."
Some years later, meisie wen
Back to their home in eikenhoff
To go and fetch bester, only to
Find that he was no longer there,
And there's this gap
In his existence
Up until 2004 when
Meisie was called
To collect bester from prison.
And from what we understand, he
Had been arrested for petty crimes.
Look at thabo bester's
Personality profile,
And in my clinical
Observation from a distance,
It gives me a
Personality profile
Of someone with antisocial
Personality disorder.
A disorder of someone who has
No regard for wrongfulness,
No appreciation for
Accountability, impulsivity,
I get the sense that there was no
Parental mother-son relationship
That was healthy.
Meisie is definitely
In emotional agony
Following everything that has
Happened with thabo bester.
It's quite evident that her
Speech is somewhat scattered
And that her thoughts
Are a bit displaced.
According to her, that is because
Of the stroke that she suffered.
And she relies on a
R350 social grant.
Multiple people have also grown up in
Some very difficult circumstances
But they didn't turn out to
Become rapists and murderers.
I think some are born bad,
And some are perhaps born bad
But their good circumstances
Might temper their behaviour.
Another one, you know,
Good circumstances
Or bad circumstances
Might make them to do
Things out of desperation.
We've seen that. You
Know, corporate thieves
Who grew up with a silver
Spoon in their mouth
End ip stealing
Millions and billions.
Thabo comes across as
An aggressive person
Who feels the need that the
World owes him something.
So the minute that he discovered
His ability to fend for self,
It didn't matter, "how
Am I going to do that?"
Happy birthday ♪
Dear tom ♪
You can see it from a distance.
He uses the tool to charm
People to get away with things.
If I look what's
Happened in the entirety
Of his behaviour, he jus
Really seems to be someone
Who doesn't really have
Empathy for others,
Doesn't really care about the
Consequences of his behaviour,
Clearly doesn't learn
From his mistakes,
'Cause he had been arrested
A few times, you know,
Diverted from prison,
Then in prison.
And nothing changed his
Behaviour, it didn't thwart him
Or put him on a better path.
So that kinda personality tha
He will continue in this fashion.
In thabo bester's
Modus operandi,
We know he had to
Be the main man.
There's a guy
Named thabo bester.
He was known as the
Facebook r*pist.
And I can't tell you how
Legit this oke seemed.
Thabo bester was a charismatic,
Well-dressed and
Well-spoken man,
Who also happened to
Be a bombastic scammer.
He was talking
About big salaries.
He uses big brands and big
Names to kinda lure people in.
It sounded so exciting.
I thought something really positive
Was about to happen in my life.
He needed laptops,
Equipment, models.
My sister, who's the smart
One, she really smelled a rat.
He came to me saying
He's from dstv.
Dstv by then, ja.
Johnny and I were thinking of
Being the biggest producers,
Hollywood and stuff like that.
It was at that time I go
A call from a guy saying,
"Listen, I found your
Company on the internet."
I'm coming down to pretoria to
sh**t a promo for dstv channel.
"And I want to hire your company to
Come sh**t this entire production."
- Hm.
- I was excited,
Because this was the
First opportunity.
We'd just registered
The company,
And this is the thing
That you wanted to do.
And I had a meeting
With the guy.
And after our meeting, I
Immediately called johnny and said,
"Hey, johnny, we have a gig, and
This gig needs about 20 models.
These models need to bring
Their own laptops as well.
Is there a way you can help
This production happen?"
I get excited.
Then the sh**t happened, I
Think, the following day, right?
- Mm. Mm.
- Ja.
Was it on a wednesday,
Something like that.
- Ja.
- I managed to organise, you know,
Those 20 models, and then they
Should bring their laptops.
Most girls, they never had..
They had top borrow laptops.
I called a friend of ours
Who had to give us a camera.
We didn't just bought, within
A month, like, new camera.
So there we are, we
Met at a b&b.
Then beautiful models came there,
We gave them the wow situation.
I got to meet thabo there.
We knew him as
Thomas thabo bester.
Look, this guy,
The way he dresses,
The way he carries
Himself and speaks,
You would believe
Anything that he says.
Ja, 'cause I remember, he
Was wearing the white shir
And the waistcoat. Ja.
But thabo had told me
That it's a dstv gig,
And when I started
Asking him questions,
"Okay, fine, do you have a script?
I need to go through the script.
"What kind of shots do you
Want?" Now it's a kyknet gig.
He was working purposefully
That we don't talk.
He did it so well.
He was getting upset with me
Because of asking questions.
Simple questions, like you wan
To make sense of something.
Thabo bester said before we sh**t,
We need to have lunch first.
And then
Then he says, "okay, everyone,
Leave your belongings in the cars,
Because we're gonna come back, but we
Have to go have lunch and whatever."
So johnny says, "mathaba,
Let's take the camera with."
- He insisted.
- I.. Yes, that's right.
I insisted on that,
And then thabo himself, he said,
"I'm not insuring this camera
It's not insured while you're taking
It, you know, with you inside."
. So I took it back.
And then we went to spur, and
Thabo bester hit the table,
Getting all our
Attention, and says,
"Order as much as you
Want. It's on me."
So, I mean, people
Were going for it.
He spoke to the shuttle guys,
He wanted the keys from them.
And time started ticking
And ticking and ticking.
I was already in the
Radio and media industry
For about four years.
There was a full-on production
Crew, makeup artists,
There must have been about 30
Finalists, both male and female.
And that was the firs
Time I saw thabo bester.
And we were told it's one
Male and one female presenter
Who's going to go through
To the final round.
You know, look at the size
Of the production crew,
The adjudication panel and the
Judges, it all was very legitimate.
We didn't have very much
Interaction with him
On the first two
Days of auditions.
It was only subsequent to
That, on the third round,
When there were jus
The four finalists each.
And that is when we had
One-on-one interaction with him.
And he asked to meet us a
About 20:00 that evening,
And that's when I fel
A bit uncomfortable.
I then called one of the other
Finalists, one of the girls,
And I asked her if she
Would rather go together,
And when both of us arrived,
I think he was quite taken aback
To see that I was not alone.
I think he had no option but to
Just meet with us in an open area.
He was very ordinary, no
Classic producer-tv vibe,
But his insight and his
Knowledge of the industry,
And how it operates,
Was on point.
I could not fault him
For running any of this
In a way that would have
Raised any red flags.
We know that the overwhelming
Majority of serials
In south africa, rapists,
Serial murderers,
Will use some kind of a con
Story to lure their victim away,
And that's typically
An offer of employment.
He did the exac
Same thing here,
He was perhaps just a
Bit more sophisticated.
And also, his targe
Market was smarter.
You know, he was sort of
Targeting sort of the model girls,
People who would be on the
Internet, facebook, social media,
Looking on sites for job
Opportunities as models.
Whereas your average
Serial rapis
Will literally walk around the
Streets, around a taxi rank,
And walk up to a lady and say,
"Are you looking for a job?"
We met at a central
Pickup point.
It was myself and two other female
Presenters who were selected.
What kind of, at that point, you
Know, rang a red flag in my mind
Was where were the
Male presenters?
And when we asked
Him that, he said,
Oh, no, he's decided to
Drop the male presenters
And he's just going with two female
Presenters that he would choose.
That just made us feel
A bit uncomfortable,
And he wanted us to travel with him
With the camera crew in the minivan
To the location in richards bay.
You know, why only women?
If your goal is just to ge
Laptops, it could be men.
Maybe he felt that he is able
To manipulate women better.
If he was more comfortable
Manipulating women,
Use certain charms, which, you
Know, if it's a heterosexual male,
Those charms might not work.
And then johnny says to me,
"These people have been
Gone for a while now."
Three hours became four hours.
The manager came to us and
Said, "hey, I need my space.
Can you pay your
Bill and go home?"
Thabo is nowhere to be
Found. The shuttle is gone.
The camera is gone.
The manager of spur
Called the police.
Back then, I think the
Bill was about 15,000 plus.
And then everyone
Looked at me and said,
"Hey, since you are the
Thabo bester right hand man,
You need to settle the bill."
Thabo became a ghost, I became,
Hypothetically speaking,
Thabo bester, because now I need to
Answer for this mess that is here.
Ja. Damn. That's when
The frustration comes.
One of the ladies'
Fiance, who was with us,
Felt a bit uncomfortable and
Didn't want her to travel alone,
And he suggested that he
Would drive us there and back.
When we said to tom bester
That we would follow in convoy,
He seemed very
Irritated and angry.
At that time, we couldn'
Understand his reaction.
As we were driving,
It was just intuition.
Something didn't sit right with me,
And I decided to google his name,
And when I did
That, I was shocked,
Because I found that there were a few
Cases of r*pe and abuse against him.
That was just harrowing,
And it shocked all of us.
And at that point, we
Had to make a decision.
Do we just turn around and
Leave, or do we follow him?
I called the bed and
Breakfast that he was at.
The owner said to me he
Had just upped and left.
He was living there for two weeks
And he hadn't even paid them.
We then frantically got hold of the
Police, explained the story to them,
Trying to get hold of
Someone who could assist us,
Asking them to intercept the
Vehicle en route to richards bay.
As we got into richards bay,
We could see that there was
No sign of any police force
That were there to assist us.
It was a long-a*s night, because
The police are asking us,
"Who connected with thabo bester?"
Then they said, "it's mathaba."
So now the police are putting
Pressure on me to say, like,
"Look, this guy, he knows. He's no
Telling you the truth. He knows."
And the way they're
Putting it, I figure that,
"No, I think he knows."
I don't know whether tom
Bester was tipped off,
Or whether he just fel
That something was strange,
Because he suddenly disappeared.
The detective who was there told me
Something very interesting, that,
"Listen, this is a fraud
Case. The guy is a con artist.
He's a fraudster. You'll
Never find this guy."
So I've just gotten
Over this experience
Of being in a car chase with
A criminal, and a week later,
As I get to work
At sabc studios,
I see tom bester walking
Out of the studio as well.
I was horrified, and I got security
To make enquiries as to where he was.
He had just gotten off
Air from ukhozi fm.
He definitely pushes
The boundaries,
And I think that's
Why he was successful,
He had the guts to tell people tha
He worked for mtv or this or that,
That he just will
Take that risk.
And he was on air
Pitching for new talent.
He was just so brazen,
Not a care in this world,
That he could come off so
Clearly just a week later,
Start planning a whole new scam.
I did contact the durban
North police station
After seeing him at sabc studios,
And informed them of his whereabouts,
That he was still
In durban and kzn,
And they should possibly look
Into trying to apprehend him.
Well I'm the cpf chairperson,
The community police
Forum chairperson
For durban north and umhlanga.
The community police forum
Obviously is the link
Between the community
And the police.
It's about forging relationships
And getting the community
To work with the police
And the police to work
With the community.
We were notified that a r*pe had
Occurred. That's a rare thing.
You don't have these types
Of violent crime in our area.
It became a high-profile
Case fairly quickly,
Especially when were notified
That the person was robbed
And the suspec
Was on the loose.
The sunday newspaper had
An article of tom bester,
And there was his
Face on the newspaper
Saying that he had r*ped,
Strangled, and stabbed her.
Thankfully, she
Survived the ordeal,
But he had made off with her
Personal possessions and her car.
It angered and frustrated me
That if only, at the time, the
Police had taken us more seriously
When we reported this
Incident in march of 2011,
A r*pist and m*rder*r would
Have been apprehended.
And we found his facebook
Page fairly quickly,
And started to see the interactions
He was having with other people.
You could see he was
Slick, super slick.
Chad thomas is joining
Us via zoom. Chad?
Look, south africa
Is in the midst
Of a horrific
Violent crime cycle.
It was very interesting,
Because it was the very firs
Social media crime of
Magnitude that was reported on.
Everybody was intrigued by
The facebook r*pist story,
And followed it intensely.
I don't think there's a private
Investigator worth their sal
That doesn't follow
High-profile cases.
I think everybody had
A facebook profile,
And facebook was the go-to
Social media in south africa.
So we all checked our
Facebook religiously.
It was the first thing
We did in the morning,
It was the last thing
We did at night.
Back in those days,
We were very naive,
We were very green when it came
To the dangers of social media.
Nowadays, in hindsight,
You think to yourself,
"But so much fraud and crime has
Been perpetrated via social media."
This is something that's
Become second nature to us.
My daughter phoned
Me and told me
She had a job
Interview in durban.
She was living in
Joburg at the time.
Mtv presenter, if I
Remember correctly.
Fantastic offer, one of those
Too-good-to-be-true offers.
She was modelling for "fhm", and
He had contacted her through that,
And she went and met him
At the sabc coffee shop.
He had all the documentation
To prove who he was.
Business cards, everything.
And it was legit. He was
In the sabc building.
At the time, I was
Living in durban,
So it was a great opportunity
To get to see her.
They drove down in her car to
City lodge, and then she arrived,
And she couldn't see me
When she got to durban,
Because she had to go and
Have her hair and makeup
And all the rest done, so I
Sat waiting for her to phone
To go and join her.
I got a phone call and it said
I needed to get there urgently.
And they said my
Daughter was r*ped.
At that stage, I was
Sitting in my pyjamas.
I got dressed quickly,
And put hazards on and
Drove all the way through.
It was a huge shock.
It was the las
Thing on my mind,
What I was going
To be walking into.
I don't know what I expected,
But.. Seeing her sitting there
And then I saw he
Had taken her
Hair straightener, the cables
From the hair straightener,
And used those to tie her up.
Then the police arrived.
And from durban north police station
They went down to addington hospital,
To the district surgeon.
The district surgeon, he sa
There with his back to her
Went through the whole process.
I know it's a job for him,
But the job he's doing is
With people that need empathy.
In south africa, as women,
Our bodies are crime scenes.
Going and reporting incidences,
Whether of abuse or r*pe,
Is one of the
Hardest things to do.
Because you have to prove
This happened to you.
The police got a identiki
From my daughter,
And they started
Tracking him down.
We had begin police investigation,
And to try an track the cellphone,
Track the table
That he'd stolen.
And he'd taken her car, as well,
Which was quite quickly recovered.
And obviously fingerprinted
And processed.
He used her credi
Card to commit fraud,
And we tracked him via
Cctv footage to gateway,
And hit the maximum
Limit that he could.
Eventually we landed up with
About 15 different aliases.
But, you know, we were doing
As much research as we could.
Clearly, thabo knew how to
Dispose of the cellphones,
He knew how to dispose
Of certain items.
And essentially, we tracked
Him back to durban central,
A known place to dispose
Of stolen electronic goods.
And then the trail went cold.
I believe she wasn't the first,
She definitely wasn't the last.
So getting him off the stree
Wasn't even a question,
It had to happen,
He had to be caught.
And for my daughter, for my
Daughter more than anybody else.
Unfortunately, it sounds selfish,
But for what he did to her.
I couldn't stop until
He had been caught.
I lost lots of friends because
Of it, because I was so driven.
You can't understand,
I got angry.
People say, "how are you? Are
You okay?" What do they think?
No. You're never fine.
I don't know how many times
I gotta talk about this.
I don't know how many times
We gotta bring up the list.
Why the hashtag's trend
When another one's dead.
When another one's friend
Didn't make it to the end.
- Justice!
- When do we want it?
Now!
We know that gender-based
Violence doesn't only affec
The victim. The ripple effect of
That flows through to their families,
It flows through the
Society, and the community
That the victim comes from.
South african patriarchy
Is fundamentally connected
To south african
Political economy.
And what I mean by this is tha
The way that our economy was built,
On the backs of cheap black
Labour toiling in the mines,
And producing enormous wealth
For a white capitalist class.
If you think abou
That, it's a story
That fundamentally treats
The human body as something
That is a means to an
End, that is dispensable,
That is something withou
Intrinsic integrity and worth.
And I think it's that attitude
That gets transplanted
Into the south african psyche, in the
Sense that we think of women's bodies
As these tools for
Individual satisfaction,
Individual gain, something to
Be exploited and dispensed with.
A lot of it is unsettling, a
Lot of it requires holding up
A mirror to ourselves,
And thinking deeply
About the society
That we live in.
And the ways in which, in some
Way, all of us are complicit.
We set up a plan to trap him.
We decided we would try and
Catfish him via facebook.
So we came up with a
Wild plan of setting up
One of our female
Detectives, and she was in.
She gave us photographs
Of herself modelling,
And we made contact with
Thabo, or with kelly.
Took the hook for a while.
And then we'd set up a plan to
Meet him in the umhlanga area.
We had a whole plan in place,
Undercover detectives,
Police officers.
It was a thing of
Movies, it really was.
Unfortunately, he go
Spooked, and he went cold.
It's always critical to ge
Information out to the public,
As quickly as possible, bu
Without divulging information
Surrounding the
Case. For any case.
We did a wanted poster with his mos
Recent clear photos that we'd had.
One of the things he had was,
He had three little lines cu
Into his eyebrow.
That became a marker,
Because we noticed that he'd had
That pretty much all the way along.
The wanted information was critical,
Because then people would say,
"I don't know who kelly young is,
But I know who thabo bester is."
Or, "I know who
Rufus mahopo is."
And the calls started coming
In, with all his aliases.
Quite a lot of calls came
In from bed and breakfasts
That had been scammed. He jus
Stole, he just took a tv and left.
And then we were trying
To link those cases.
You produce what you
Call a super docket.
So social media's
A valuable tool
When it comes to
Investigating crimes.
We still use it to this day.
So the fact that it was used to
Great success way back in 2011
Is to us a testament of how
Important social media is.
In fact, social media, at times,
Is even more importan
Than mainstream media.
Because it reaches
A lot of people
Who may not necessarily be
Interested in watching the news,
Listening to the news,
Or reading a newspaper.
I think there's a meme that's
Done the round over the years
Of what there was
Prior to social media,
And it shows a picture of a group of
Old ladies on different balconies,
Chatting to one another, and
Watching the road below them,
And reporting to one
Another what's going on.
And that's what these community-based
Groups on social media have done.
They've been the eyes and
The ears on the ground,
And they've helped tremendously in
Bringing perpetrators to justice,
But, more importantly, warning people
Of the dangers that are lurking.
I remind people that we call
Con artists "con artists"
For the simple reason that the
"Con" stands for "confidence"
And "convincing". When you're
Dealing with a con artist,
That person knows exactly
What to say, what to do,
To keep the scam in motion.
And then, of course,
There's the added complication tha
When you are in that situation,
Apart from embarrassed, apar
From being victim shamed,
You have a sense that perhaps the
Authorities don't have capacity
Or resources to
Investigate that crime.
I didn't meet the victim,
My victim support team did.
Obviously they'd spent some
Time with her consoling her,
Obviously helping her
Through the r*pe kit.
He sort of cuts the cord
To a blackberry phone,
Ties her up, and in tha
Process, it's spur of the moment,
According to him, he then ends up
Raping her and taking what he can,
And leaving the premises.
The ability to appear, disappear
And reappear so quickly
Is astounding. He was on the move.
Made a post on facebook that,
"This is not me, this is a differen
Person doing this. I'm not the one.
Will you stop bothering me?"
Obviously he was trying
To convince everybody
That he had nothing to do
With it. He enjoyed the chase.
I think he got off on
That, very much so.
And then made the
Famous comment
I think the heat was on too
Much for him, all 'round.
He was starting to feel
Pressure, he really was.
It was then handed over to the hawks,
To the serious violent crimes unit.
Nomfundo's story
Definitely leaves a hole
In the big thabo bester story.
Because a lot of his
Victims, we have been able
To gather an extensive
Background on who they are
And their relation to bester.
And we have tried to find ou
A bit more about nomfundo,
But it's been quite hard.
We've gone to people
In the community,
Who said that they knew her,
But a lot of those led nowhere.
There's still this incredibly
Sad story surrounding nomfundo.
Thabo bester's biggest victim
We know the least about,
And to me that is an injustice.
On the 6th of october, 2011,
Police in alberton
Arrested thabo bester.
He was cornered by the
Police on a freeway, I think.
Toll road, or
Something like that.
Local police, where
He was, captured him
As just a general criminal.
Almost like he made a blunder.
One too many blunders.
It's kind of ironic tha
There was so much energy
Being invested into this,
And then he gets
Arrested by chance.
But you often find that happens, you
Know, when a criminal gets caugh
By, almost, stepping
On their own toes.
I think anybody
That's involved
In the law enforcement space,
Be it public or private sector,
Is happy when somebody's
Brought to justice.
And I think, not only as
Somebody who was very engaged
With social media, and am still
Very engaged with social media
It was a relief to see that there was
Some way to track down perpetrators
Of heinous crimes.
So it is sadly
Almost not surprising
That when thabo bester was
Arrested, he was found in possession
Of all these
Un-rica'd sim cards,
Driver's licenses, id documents.
What it does show, is that the only
Way such a person could have access
To a bank account is if they held
It under a fraudulent identity,
Or if they used the bank
Account of another person.
So I interviewed him in the
Serious and violent crime unit,
And it was just a
Detective's office.
There is an element of
Trying to understand
What the offender was
Thinking, what's their motive.
What might be their
Type of personality.
But you don't sort of.. Go all
Psychic, if I can put it that way.
You know, you're really
Working with the behaviour
The person's left behind. On
A m*rder scene, of course,
The body and the general crime
Scene is the most important aspec
That we're looking at. You know,
Augmented by the autopsy report,
And any other findings
Around the time.
It was very clear, though, tha
He was trying to present things
In a way that he wants sympathy.
So, with the first r*pe that we are
Aware off, he claims in a nutshell
That started of as an attemp
To steal stuff from this lady.
He then took her down to durban
And he says that it was only in
The sort of moment as he saw her tied
Up, and her dress sort of lifted up
That he could see her
Underwear, that he then though
About actually raping her.
As a man, he felt entitled
To have sex with her
"Because I can." And that's the
Problem we have in this country,
Where.. Some men see
Women as sexual objects.
A means to an end.
She can fulfil a need.
So we just got the news tha
Nomfundo's family's decided
- Not to speak to us.
- Mm-hm.
Have you found in your
Work on gbv reporting
That sometimes families
Don't wanna talk about it?
That is actually the
Hardest part of this job.
As journalists, as
Filmmakers, as storytellers,
We want to get as close
To the story as possible.
But I've learned in my career, when
You do get the family to say yes,
It takes incredible strength
And bravery from their side.
Because once they take that h*
Seat, you are taking them right back
To that moment of trauma,
And they are reliving everything
As if it's happening now.
So I am by no means surprised
That the family declined
To be interviewed.
Because for a lot of families
There's never closure.
The way she died is
Unacceptably brutal.
What he took from them, I don't think
They can even put it into words.
So, yes, it is incredibly hard.
It would've been wonderful
To get to know nomfundo
Through the eyes of her family.
I look at tha
Smiling photo of hers,
And for some reason I wonder
What her laughter sounded like.
I really wish we could've
Had her family on camera,
But this is not about what I want,
This is not about what we want,
It's not even what you
As the viewer want.
It's about, really, respecting the
Families' decision not to partake.
What we are left with
Is thabo bester's story.
He met nomfundo in january 2011,
At a bmw dealership in sandton,
Where she worked
As a salesperson.
He told her he was working for
A television production company,
And that she looked like someone
Who would look good on tv.
He starts to, according to him,
Realise that he really
Likes this lady,
And that she's got a lot of skills,
And has, sort of, a lot of potential,
And he can use her. And I think
He means that in various ways.
He then sort of convinces her tha
They should travel down to cape town.
Also promising her
Something abou
A photoshoot opportunity. And
They checked into a luxury hotel,
Where they stayed
For two nights.
He again does this false
Booking with a false eft
And when they left, they
Then checked into a villa
In sunset beach.
They're sharing the same room.
And at one point, she allegedly
Had seen messages on his phone,
Which she'd read, and realised tha
He's essentially in a relationship.
And, according to him, she confronts
Him about this, and he's upset.
And the argumen
Became quite heated,
But it eventually ended
With them settling things,
And then going to bed.
He wakes up a
03:00, Realising,
"Well this sort of game is up."
So he goes and gets a knife from
The guesthouse, comes back
Nomfundo woke up,
Only to find thabo bester
Standing in front of her.
He describes it that there
Was sort of a tussle,
And she must've been
Stabbed in that process,
But he wasn't trying to stab her,
And he wasn't trying to k*ll her.
While she was busy
Bleeding to death,
He asked her for the
Password to her laptop.
And at around 07:00,
Bester left the villa
And sort of tells the guest house
She's sleeping late, and he's off
And that she shouldn't be
Bothered until about 14:00.
And he leaves.
So later that evening,
The owners of that villa
Became somewhat concerned, given
That they hadn't heard from nomfundo,
And when they went to the room,
That's when they uncovered
Her lifeless and bloody body.
What we know about the other r*pes
Is that they were part of a scam.
But when it comes
To nomfundo's story,
There's the alleged relationship
Between him and nomfundo.
Why are we led to
Believe that version?
So even in thabo bester's
Own version of events,
Which he told me, there's no
Efforts to save this person.
He describes it tha
There was sort of a tussel
And she must've been stabbed in
That process but he wasn't trying
To stabb her or he wasn'
Trying to k*ll her.
But he can't remember, you know,
How many times she was stabbed.
And you know, he says she was
Scratched and then she's on the bed
And she stops moving, he's
Not sure if she's alive
So he kind of shakes
Her and then leaves.
Um, so very much portrayed
As I can confess
And I think he was
Literaly, as if he was
Now admit to being sort of
The one holding the knife
That caused her death, but I
Can't admit to murdering her.
Because I didn't sort of
Intentionally stabb her.
Nowhere in that story, even
His own version of events,
Is there any iota of
Care for that victim.
Thabo bester will try
And tell you something
That's going to win your
Sympathy, make him look better.
You cannot accept anything.
If he tells you the sun is
Shining in the middle of the day,
You better go outside and look.
There's one thing tha
I'm pretty confiden
Is probably something
That's genuine in what he said.
And I'll paraphrase it,
But he really sort of said I
Almost like out of the blue.
And he said he always
Wondered what it would be like
To be the person with the knife,
To be in complete control.
That is very much the kind
Of stuff we often do hear
From serial murderers
And serial rapists.
It's about power and control,
And sometimes, in a way,
Repeating things tha
Have happened to you.
That, in a way, it's like you
Cancel it out, if you're the doer,
As opposed to the person
It was being done to.
So I think that was probably
One of the few little glimmers
Where his real kind of thoughts
And feelings came through,
And for the rest of the
Interview, he wasn't trying
To present himself
As an offender.
It was accidental, he
Hadn't thought about this.
The knife accidentally
Hurt the m*rder victim.
We say serial offenders
Don't usually just stop
The typical patterns
They will continue.
We know, for example, tha
Only one in 20 r*pe cases
Are reported to the police.
So if you do catch someone
Who's r*ped 20 people,
You know, you times that by 20,
Is probably the actual number.
To say that, you know, the two r*pes
And the m*rder are his only violent,
Or sexually violen
Offences is very naive.
I know there're a lot more.
I know there are a lot more
That spoke to the police
That are terrified.
Sometimes you just bury
An incident like this,
And you want to think,
"It was traumatic for me,
I wanna forget about it."
But it still haunts you.
It's something that you need to
Accept, acknowledge, and deal with.
It's not something
That ever goes away.
His presence, or the very though
Of him, still instils fear in me.
And that was when I decided tha
I think my life is more precious,
And my family, and I decided
To leave the industry.
Emotionally, he did t*rture us.
It might be a small, little thing,
But emotionally we really felt it.
But as for mathaba
I never liked him for
What he did to me.
And he never come back as a friend
To say, "brother, I'm sorry,
Let's continue, let's
Fight thabo together."
Is this the first time you
Guys have spoken about it?
Yes, yes, it was the first time we
Speak about it, to share a space.
It brought us back together
Here, to the same seat.
He sat in court,
With a smug face,
Same smug look he's got on his face
Now. Exactly the same smug face.
There's nothing he could ever say
That would make me forgive him.
But if he had shown
Just a inch of remorse,
Maybe the hatred
Wouldn't be as bad.
But he's never,
Ever shown remorse.
Not then, and not now.
The sentence was 60 years,
For my daughter's
r*pe and as*ault.
He got his appeal. It got cut down
To from 60 years to 30 years.
The m*rder ran concurrently
With the r*pes.
Which is also
Absolutely rubbish.
'Cause he's no
Sitting time for it.
He doesn't do anything for the
m*rder because it's all concurrent.
A life sentence is 25
Years. So it was 25 years,
And then you'd be
Eligible for parole.
And then he's ou
There doing it again.
The life sentence is
Till the day you die,
The question is, will you be serving
Some of it outside with restrictions,
Or in prison? Now the point where
You can possibly be released,
Usually, on a life sentence
For the first time,
Would be at a 25-year
Point into your sentence.
You'd have your first parole hearing,
Doesn't mean you're gonna get parole,
But you'll have
Your first hearing.
And then probably every
Two years thereafter,
You'll have another hearing, and
Another hearing, and another hearing.
So when he got tha
Life sentence in 2012,
His first point at which he
Would've come up for parole
Would've been 25 years
From that, fast forward,
Which would've been 2037.
Well he didn'
Wait the full time.
So how remorseful is that,
If you plan an escape?
That's not remorse.
I've wanted to talk up,
And I wanted people to
See the other side of him.
Because it's only his
Voice everybody's hearing.
So I wanted them to
See what he's done,
The lives he affected.
Nomfundo's parents,
I can't even begin to
Imagine how they feel.
I, at least, ge
To see my daughter.
And put my arms around
Her and love her.
It's never too late
To come forward.
I found a post from 2012,
When he was put in jail,
And right at the bottom,
There's a comment from you.
Ja, I was very worried
About nandipha,
That there's this person
That's worrying my family,
And I think I know who he is.
Can just someone hear me out?
And no one heard me out.
I mean, that was still when he
Was in jail before the escape.
And I was using
Different avenues.
And nobody was listening?
And nobody listened,
No one listened.
It wasn't the story
Of the day. You know?
Escaped facebook rapis
And m*rder*r, thabo bester,
Is still on the run.
Brace yourself, the
Whereabouts of dr nandipha
Magudumana was a no-show
At her clinic in sandton.
The pair has vanished.
Police are now working with
Private security companies
To try and apprehend him.
Agencies like fidelity, adt,
Have offered r100,000 reward
For information
Leading to his arrest.
But what has become
Very clear here,
Is that the investigation
Will have to go much deeper,
Much higher, and sideways.
We do not have a
Correctional service,
That the justice
System is in tatters.
Somebody like thabo bester,
We can almost assure you
That he has done something in
The time that he has escaped.
And he has hurt more women.
I do not feel safe.
So at what point
Do we start holding
Government accountable?
- We found bester.
- When did you find him?
We found him, we sent
To prison for life.
- No, but now he's escaped.
- We'll find bester
We'll find bester, prison,
For life, and 75 years.
Ja, where's he now?
Bester was.. Jumped out
Of correctional service,
And we are chasing bester
For the second time.
We found bester.
- When did you find him?
- We'll find him,
We'll send to prison for life.
Prison for life
And we are chasing
Bester for the second time.
But what do you
Make of nandipha?
Do you think that she's
An accomplice or a victim?
You know, what is
Being done to her
That we don't know?
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01x02 - #AMINEXT
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South African true crime mini television documentary series based on the prison escape of Thabo Bester and his alleged accomplice, Nandipha Magudumana.
South African true crime mini television documentary series based on the prison escape of Thabo Bester and his alleged accomplice, Nandipha Magudumana.