Lifestyle podcast: Who Said That with Kay | Photo: The Citizen
The Thabo Bester saga has, for the past two to three weeks, captured the imaginations of South Africans who are in disbelief about every new emerging development.
From the first moment that GroundUp News confirmed what a few accounts on social media had been whispering about over the last few years, the breaking news story has been followed up with new developments on an almost-daily basis.
After the media briefing by the minister of Justice and Correctional Services admitting to some major blunders on their part, the latest unconfirmed development in the case is linked to claims that he was first arrested at age 17 for fraud after attempting to scam SABC1 youth show, YoTV.
This comes after images from his first arrest went viral across Twitter and Facebook after being published in an IOL article detailing his life and crimes.
At the time of writing, The Citizen was not able to find any verifiable evidence that Bester had indeed been arrested in connection with any fraud at YoTV.
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This claim about Bester proves that these and other news stories are breeding grounds for disinformation, misinformation and the less formal ‘fake news.’
Every development that is published and shared about this saga is more unbelievable than the last, so it becomes easy to say just about anything about this news story.
Thabo Bester is a convicted rapist and murderer popularly known as ‘The Facebook Rapist.’
He received that moniker due to the means he used to lure women into scams and liaisons that often resulted in rape.
He lured his victims by promising them lucrative modelling jobs and he often just robbed them of their belongings.
Almost 10 years after his conviction, Bester is back in the news after faking his death in a jail cell and escaping to not only live large but commit more crimes alongside his celebrity doctor girlfriend, Nandipha Magudumana.
The pair are currently believed to be on the run and police last week announced they have put together a team to search for him.
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