The Pretoria High Court has granted Thabo Bester access to physical legal resources but not “electronic material”.
This appears to mean that his urgent request for a laptop and internet access is unlikely to succeed.
Tuesday marked Bester’s return to the high court. It was almost two months after his case was rescheduled for trial in 2024 in relation to his spectacular escape in May 2022 from Mangaung maximum security prison.
The convicted murderer and rapist stated that he needs access to electronics and materials in order “to adequately prepare” for his impending deportation case.
The Supreme Court of Appeal determined in October 2023 that it would consider Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s appeal against a ruling by a Free State high court that concluded that South African courts still had criminal jurisdiction over her.
Representing himself under a heavy police guard on Tuesday, Bester explained reasons for his application.
“I am challenging the lawfulness of my imprisonment and of my deportation and arrest in Tanzania. I am not able to represent myself while having a lack of legal resources,” he said.
“The main application is of a person who was deported out of Tanzania with allegedly false documents issued by Home Affairs.”
Constitutional right questioned
The judge, who shall remain nameless as per the court order, quickly disproved Bester’s claim that he had a “constitutional right” to access the information and gadgets.
“You don’t have a constitutional right to a laptop and a modem. Show me where in the constitution it says you have a constitutional right to a laptop and a modem,” said the judge.
“You can have access to hard copies, but you are not getting access to a laptop. You will get law books. They are the same books every jurist in the country used.
“They will give you access to all the information you need for the purposes of preparation for both your main application and your defence in the Free State.”
Bester took a different approach and claimed that students have access to laptops, but the no-nonsense judge remarked that he is not studying, so this too failed.
