Magudumana may challenge extradition in ConCourt: Lawyer

Dr. Nandipha Magudumana’s lawyer, Machini Motloung, says they are considering taking their extradition battle to the Constitutional Court.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Magudumana’s application to appeal a High Court ruling that had rejected her challenge against the legality of her extradition.

The disgraced doctor continues to insist that her arrest in Tanzania was unlawful, describing it as an abduction.

She was arrested in Arusha in 2023 alongside her partner, convicted murderer Thabo Bester.

Dubbed South Africa’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” the couple fled the country amid reports they had been spotted shopping in Johannesburg following Thabo Bester’s dramatic escape from Mangaung Maximum Prison.

They face more than 38 charges, including fraud, corruption, violation of a corpse, and defeating the ends of justice.

Machini Motloung has dismissed claims that their challenge against the extradition is merely a delay tactic.

Her legal team argued that her deportation from Tanzania was, in fact, a disguised extradition.

Magudumana alleges that South African and Tanzanian authorities colluded to forcibly return her to the country.

The state has rejected these claims, asserting that Magudumana did not resist boarding the flight to South Africa and had previously expressed a desire to return home, citing that she missed her children.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga says the state is ready to proceed to trial.

The matter has been set down for trial from 19 July to 21 September.

Magudumana stands accused alongside her partner, her father, and six G4S employees.

Thabo Bester, the central figure in the case, previously told the court that the charges against him would not exist if there was no political involvement controlling the matter.

“I am not the worst inmate in this country, but I am the most popular inmate for no reason, but because of the political carnage and issues that I have in my personal capacity, that have nothing to do with these legal proceedings.”

“I feel that it’s unfair that these people that are sitting here as my so-called accused to be in court, when I know very well that they have nothing to do with this, knowing very well that they were not present in any of these issues that are in these indictments.”

Bester claims that he has proof that there are high ranking officials involved in his imprisonment.