Dr Nandipha Magudumana has been granted leave to appeal the decision of the Bloemfontein High Court, which earlier dismissed her application to declare her arrest in Tanzania unconstitutional.
Dr Nandipha scores opportunity to appeal Tanzania arrest
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled in favour of Magudumana’s request for an appeal. This comes after the Bloemfontein High Court had earlier rejected her application to deem her arrest and subsequent repatriation from Tanzania as unlawful and unconstitutional.
Judge Phillip Loubser of the Bloemfontein High Court had initially concluded that Magudumana’s return to South Africa was essentially a disguised extradition. He noted that she had consented to it, thereby giving South African courts jurisdiction over her case.
In her appeal plea, Magudumana argued that the issue of consent in the context of an unlawful and unconstitutional act had not been fully explored by either the SCA or the Constitutional Court.
She further stated that the government had not adequately demonstrated her consent in their affidavits. According to her, the government only indicated that she did not “verbally, or otherwise, offer any resistance or protest” and that she had expressed a desire to return to South Africa to be with her children.
The SCA’s Friday ruling not only granted Magudumana leave to appeal but also set aside the costs order of the lower court.
If Magudumana does not proceed with the appeal, she will be responsible for covering these costs.
Magudumana was arrested in Tanzania near the Kenyan border in April 2023. She was detained alongside Thabo Bester, a convicted rapist and killer who had escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre.