Acting national spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), Sontaga Seisa, confirms that seven police officials from both the Trompsburg and Edenburg Police Stations have been charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm following an investigation into the matter by IPID.

Seisa says the police officers, made up of six men and one woman, were not arrested but were instead summoned to appear in the Edenburg Magistrate’s Court in late November 2018. Following a second postponement of the case in late June, the group will reappear in the same court on July 12 for trial.

One of the hitchhikers, Lerato Edgar Mokotso, is content that the alleged assault is being dealt with, after initially feeling that there was no justice for the alleged victims. The Free State police’s communication division has referred any and all questions to IPID.

On 2 October 2017, Mokotso and three other people were hitchhiking on the N1 outside Trompsburg, heading to Edenburg. They got a lift in a white Iveco panel van which was stopped by police shortly after they left the hiking spot. The group was accused of a robbery at a local furniture store. They allege police assaulted them while they were in custody before releasing them for wrongful arrest the same day.

A disciplinary matter was held in August 2018 but was later.

OFM News