The Edenburg Magistrate’s Court has once again put the case of four hitchhikers accusing the police of brutality, on ice.

One of the hitchhikers, Edgar Mokotso, was summoned to appear as a witness on Monday (28/08), however, he never had the chance to appear.

Despite being in court for most of the day, only one witness got to appear, thus the decision to postpone. The court will on Friday 1 November hear testimonies about the events that took place on 2 October 2017 at Trompsburg. The police officers, which include six men and one woman, are charged with assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Reliving the events, Mokotso said he and three others were hitchhiking from Trompsburg to Edenburg. After a while, they got a lift from a driver in a white panel van. To their surprise, they were later accused by the police of robbing a local furniture store. Allegations are that the police officers in question assaulted the hitchhikers while they were in custody.

Following the alleged assault, the four were released on wrongful arrests that same day. An investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate led to the police officers being charged. 

In October 2019, Viewfinder published an exposé on IPID, alleging that cases were being manipulated by investigators for the purpose of altering the directorate’s performance on cases.

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. Interestingly Mokotso and others have received compensation from the state to the tune of hundreds of thousands. This payout occurred in late 2020.

OFM News