Thabo Bester's court bid for access to laptop in prison struck off the roll

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria dismissed Thabo Bester's urgent application to access a laptop from prison for his deportation case.

Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer, had his request struck off the roll due to a lack of urgency on Tuesday afternoon.

"The application before me is lacking urgency and cannot be entertained. The application is struck off the roll for lack of urgency," said the judge, who cannot be named following a ruling.

Bester headed to court for an order to compel the Department of Correctional Services to grant him access to a laptop to prepare for legal proceedings.

He claimed his right to a fair trial was compromised.

Bester wants to challenge his deportation from Tanzania, where he was arrested alongside his girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana, after they fled the country following his prison break from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, Free State, in May 2022,

Representing himself in court, Bester argued that a lack of "resources" had hampered his ability to defend himself in court, which he believed violated his rights.

"This application is not an application self-created. There are numerous attempts that are before the respondents [State], where they have a complainant request book.

"If your honour could request a complainant request book, they [State] have strategically not added the copy because it states how many times I have been denied access to books and access to legal information at this point," he said.

Bester argued that he made multiple requests for support in prison, including access to typing, all of which had been rejected.

"If I had to write an application to request any documentation of legal reasons, I have to state the reason for my application," he said.

Bester further argued that the "allegations" reported about him in the media were baseless and were blown out of proportion by those seeking to tarnish his reputation.

"I have the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. So, these allegations that they are putting before this court, which is escape, have not been proven and have not been tested.

"The allegations of fraudulent charges against me and Nandipha Magudumana have not been tested," he said.

Bester told the court he was not asking for the "luxury of a laptop", but that he did not have access to legal resources that allowed him "meaningful" access to the courts.

"The Bill of Rights clearly states that we all have a right to fair equality, justice and law that is protected.

"I am supposed to benefit as freely as the respondents in the main application. I have highlighted in this affidavit and my responding affidavit that I am not, under normal circumstances, incarcerated.

"I am under circumstances that are inhumane. I live in a cage; I exercise in a cage. I am by myself. I don't even have time," he said.

He said he was prejudged because he was "Thabo Bester".

"I am fighting for my life, where I am going against seven departments of government. Regardless, if I am Thabo Bester, the law says that we are all equal.

"Does that mean that because I am Thabo Bester, I have no right to access to my constitutional right?"

Advocate Mosioa Mazibuko, for the State, argued that Bester was able to file the application before the court and did not clarify the extent of assistance he received from family or other sources.

"The main application was filed without any problems.  The applicant similarly was able to prepare and file the founding papers in the current application.

"He does not particularly explain how that happened, except making one statement that he has had to rely on family favours," Mazibuko told the court.

Mazibuko added that Bester had previously cited international legal authorities in his main application, but failed to explain how he accessed this information.

"How does he have access to that? How did he get access to the legal authorities, which he refers to in the main application?

"The urgency in my respectful submissions is clearly self-created. That is based on the simple fact that the applicant [Bester], on his own version, waited until the notice to oppose was filed before launching this application," he told the court.

Mazibuko submitted that where urgency was "self-created", it should not be accepted on the court's urgent roll.

"Self-created urgencies, in fact, bluntly speaking, is an abuse of the court process. I submit that this matter be struck off the roll for a lack of urgency.

"This application should, nonetheless, fail on its merit. I said earlier that the applicant has, in fact, been able to access the court. As a matter of fact, there is no limitation whatsoever on his right to access the court.

"The problem that we have is that the applicant suggests he should have access to court in the manner in which he wishes. He does not want to have access to printed authorities or textbooks," he said.