Film houses are often on the lookout for real-life stories that they can adapt into film and produce for profit. Now and then, they got a scoop and tun with it, getting a windfall along the way.
Sometimes, though, they get sued or threatened by those whose lives they try to turn into films. This is the situation right now for Nandipha Magudumana and Showmax.
The former aesthetician, who entangled herself in the life of the convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, is threatening to take Showmax to court over its documentary “Tracking Thabo Bester.”
Thabo Bester became a sensation of sorts throughout South Africa after pulling up a “prison break” of sorts, vanishing from prison, setting the place on fire and leaving the body of a dead to pass as his in the inferno.
He was assumed dead in the fire until later when word spread that someone looking exactly like him was spotted at SPAR in South Africa. A manhunt started almost immediately. After his arrest in Tanzania (where he fled along with Nandipha), it was discovered that he was the same Thabo Bester after all.
TRAILER:
Tracking Thabo Bester
Four-part investigation documentary looking into the disappearance and subsequent re-arrest of Thabo Bester, as told by journalists who broke and covered the story.
Produced by IdeaCandy (Devilsdorp, Rosemary’s Hitlist, Steinheist) the doccie… pic.twitter.com/uxeFqFgytW
— Kgopolo (@PhilMphela) March 4, 2024
Nandipha is determined to stop the airing of the four-part docuseries with an interdict. Time will tell if she succeeds.
