The postponement is to allow some of the police officers to find new lawyers as their previous lawyers have withdrawn from the case. The court sat on Monday (7/8) in the case of four hitchhikers who were allegedly assaulted by seven police officers in 2017. The police officers are charged with assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Edgar Mokotso was one of the four hitchhikers who were given a lift by a white panel van on the N1 outside Trompsburg heading to Edenburg. The police officers then accused Mokotso and others of robbing a local furniture store. Before they were released for wrongful arrest, it is alleged that the police officers assaulted them in custody.

One postponement was due to police officers failing to appear; another was technical issues with the microphones.

The magistrate stated in open court that the trial will continue on 28 August, and no postponement will be allowed. This trial has been postponed for multiple reasons since its commencement in 2020. One of the postponements was due to some of the police officers failing to appear before the court. The other reason was technical issues when the microphones did not work.

In December 2020, the victims won a lawsuit against the police, which resulted in them being compensated with thousands of rands. There have been internal disciplinary proceedings against the seven police officers between 2018 and 2019 but it turned out futile as their unions managed to defend their members successfully.

In Ventersburg a team of senior police officers has been tasked to investigate the video making rounds on social media. The video involves Capt. Francois Odendaal, the station commander of Ventersburg Police Station and EFF's vice-chairman of the Lejweleputswa region, Rasake Ntuli.

In the video, Odendaal is throwing Ntuli into a prison cell. He then said in the video that he is arresting Ntuli for assaulting a police officer. However, one of the people in the background hints that the station commander is not honest.

OFM News