Unlike in the past when appearing in court, Dr Nandipha Magudumana did not look like her jolly self. She wasn't smiling for the cameras and greeting journalists. Today, as she appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court in the Free State to apply for bail, she arrived in court with her feet chained together and sat down in the dock, quietly with her eyes closed and mumbling what seems like a short prayer, before her bail-application affidavit was read on the record.

ALONE, DEFENCELESS AND HELPLESS

In her affidavit, read by her team, Advocate Frans Dlamini, Magudumana claimed that on the day she left the country on 17 March this year, she was with Thabo Bester. She claimed that she had no idea she was going to leave the country and that Thabo had no intention of leaving alone. "I was in the company of accused number five (Thabo Bester) when he ordered me to get inside the car," she said in the affidavit. "I refused and asked for an explanation and later succumbed to pressure because I was alone, defenceless, and helpless." She further said that she was scared of Bester after he made threats. She succumbed and complied with his instructions and was taken out of the country against her will. "I did not voluntarily depart South Africa. I had no reason to leave the country," she said, adding that she had no control over the situation in Tanzania because of the threats. 

A MASTERMIND WHO PLANNED THE ESCAPE

The state is opposing bail citing that she is a flight risk and that she will evade trial. The investigating officer, Colonel Tieho Flyman said in an affidavit that Magudumana was a willing participant when she and her lover Bester left the country. "Magudumana, a married woman in a relationship with Bester - a convicted murderer and rapist. Magudumana and Bester are masterminds of the planned escape," Colonel Flyman said in the affidavit opposing her bail.

ABANDONING HER CHILDREN

Magudumana told authorities that she met Bester in 2006 while the two of them were studying at Wits University. Bester was studying Theology while she was studying Medicine. They started dating again on 21 May 2017 and Bester paid lobola for her in December 2020. Flyman said Magugumana is also accused of abandoning her two daughters, aged 11 and six years old who are currently living with their father, who is also a medical doctor. In the affidavit, Flyman said she hasn't contacted the father, but she has been calling friends and her legal team from prison. Magudumana said in her own affidavit that she doesn't intend to live as a fugitive. "I will not evade my trial. I will stand by my trial. I am a well-known medical practitioner and would not think of evading my trial. I can be given bail conditions. " The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow at 11AM.