News24.com | Woman reportedly on the run with rapist Thabo Bester is not a registered doctor, says HPCSA

Close-up of Nandipha Magudumana, pictured shopping last year with a man that looks like Thabo Bester.

• So-called Facebook rapist Thabo Bester pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and one of murder in separate trials in 2011 and 2012 and was sentenced to an effective life term.
• After he was reported to have committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May last year, GroundUp published a series of stories on evidence that he had, in fact, escaped. 
• Bester was reportedly living with Instagram influencer and self-described medical doctor, Nandipha Magudumana, who has not returned to work since news of his escape broke.
• The HPSCA has now confirmed that she is not a registered doctor.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says the woman believed to be the partner of rapist and killer Thabo Bester has been suspended from practising as a doctor – and, if she is still practising, it is a criminal offence.

In response to questions from News24, the HPCSA said Nandipha Magudumana had been suspended "in terms of Section 19A(1)(b) of the Health Professions Act for failure to pay annual fees when they were due on 1 April 2021".

As a result, Magudumana appears to have been unable to legally practise medicine for nearly two years.

While stressing that the HPSCA could not take any action against Magudumana because she was no longer a registered doctor, the council said she could be prosecuted if it was found that she had been practising as a doctor while not registered.

ALSO READ | Inside the lavish home Dr Nandipha Magudumana shared with rapist Thabo Bester and her daughters

"This becomes a matter for the HPCSA inspectorate office to investigate further, in conjunction with the law enforcement, to determine whether she is practising whilst not registered with council. As stipulated in the Health Professions Act, 56 of 1974, practising whilst not registered with council is a criminal offence," the HPSCA said.

On her Instagram page, Magudumana describes herself as a "medical doctor who offered aesthetic medical treatment at "Optimum Medical Aesthetic Solutions".

She has reportedly not shown up for work since the news of Bester's escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre first broke.

This is a developing story.

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