Bring her back by any means’: Concourt hears explosive claims in Magudumana case – IOL
- Nandipha Magudumana challenged the legality of her deportation from Tanzania in the Constitutional Court on May 14, 2026, arguing that her return to South Africa was conducted through...
- Advocate Anton Katz SC, representing Magudumana, told the court that the operation to retrieve her from Tanzania was flawed from beginning to end.
- Magudumana is seeking a court declaration that her handover by Tanzanian officials to South African authorities was unlawful and violated established law.
Nandipha Magudumana challenged the legality of her deportation from Tanzania in the Constitutional Court on May 14, 2026, arguing that her return to South Africa was conducted through a disguised extradition process.
Advocate Anton Katz SC, representing Magudumana, told the court that the operation to retrieve her from Tanzania was flawed from beginning to end. Katz argued that South African authorities disregarded the rule of law during the 2023 operation to bring Magudumana back to the country alongside Thabo Bester.
Magudumana is seeking a court declaration that her handover by Tanzanian officials to South African authorities was unlawful and violated established law.
Legal History and the SCA Ruling
The matter reached the Constitutional Court after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) previously dismissed Magudumana’s application to have her arrest and deportation declared unlawful.
In a majority judgment, the SCA found that Magudumana had consented to be brought back to South Africa. However, the ruling included a minority judgment from one judge who argued that the appeal should have been upheld.
The minority judge stated that criminal proceedings should have been stopped, as the court should have considered the lawfulness of the handover from Tanzanian authorities to South African officials.
During the May 14, 2026, proceedings, Katz relied heavily on this minority judgment, asserting that the single judge was correct while the four other SCA judges were wrong.
Background of the Case
The legal dispute follows the arrest of Magudumana and Bester in Tanzania. The pair had allegedly fled South Africa following Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Facility in Bloemfontein.
Magudumana and her co-accused are currently facing a total of 38 counts.
The criminal trial for these charges is scheduled to begin on July 20 in the Free State High Court.
South African authorities simply ignored the rule of law when they brought her back in 2023, alongside her lover Thabo Bester
Anton Katz SC