NPA to challenge Magudumana’s new attempt to overturn deportation

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has confirmed it will oppose disgraced celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana’s latest legal bid to challenge her deportation from Tanzania.

On 16 May, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Magudumana’s application to have her April 2023 deportation declared unlawful.

Authorities arrested Magudumana and her partner, convicted criminal Thabo Bester, in Arusha, Tanzania, after they fled South Africa.

NANDIPHA MAGUDUMANA TAKES DEPORTATION CHALLENGE TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

The South African previously reported that in June 2023, Bloemfontein High Court Judge Phillip Loubser dismissed Magudumana’s application for her arrest and deportation from Tanzania in April 2023 to be declared unlawful and set aside.

Loubser dismissed her application with costs, saying he is not convinced that the case has a prospect of success and that a different court might come to a different conclusion.

Magudumana claimed South African police abducted her in Tanzania and argued that her unlawful arrest invalidated the criminal charges she faces in the Thabo Bester escape case. She also demanded release from the Bizzah Makhate Correctional Centre in Kroonstad, where she remains in custody.

On Friday, 16 May, Supreme Court Justice Tati Makgoka said the matter is dismissed with costs.

NPA national spokesperson advocate Mthunzi Mhaga told the SABC that they still have to meet with their legal team and confirmed that they will file an opposition within 10 days.

“We take the view firmly so that the process of deporting Dr Nandipha Magudumana from Tanzania in April 2023 to South Africa was a seamless and above board process. There’s no untoward conduct on the part of the team that escorted her. We are very much aware that there was a minority judgement that ruled in her favour, however, the majority judgement is in our favour,” Mhaga said.