Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A state prosecutor, two of his relatives and a member of the SA National Defence Force have been accused of beating two suspected robbers for several hours and throwing one of them into a river.

A prosecutor at the Witbank Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga, Mahlogonolo Mathebula (27); his brother Alfred Mathebula (31), who works at the police forensic laboratory in Pretoria; their nephew Kgaugelo Nkadimeng (27); and Eric Mashegoana (23), an SANDF member based in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, appeared in the Praktiseer Magistrate’s Court last week.

They were not asked to plead to charges of kidnapping and assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm. Nkadimeng was denied bail and remanded, while the other three men were granted R1 000 bail each.

The case was postponed to May 23 for further investigation.

The alleged incident took place while the four men were in Praktiseer, near Burgersfort in Limpopo, for the Easter holidays.

They are accused of beating up two men who were accused of stealing Nkadimeng’s cellphone and R200 in the early hours of Good Friday.

According to the charge sheet, the two suspected robbers, aged 18 and 35, were found at the younger man’s parents’ house about 8.30am and taken to a nearby river.

“The two victims were kidnapped and taken under a bridge at a nearby river where they were seriously assaulted for several hours,” said Limpopo police spokesperson Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba.

The older man was then thrown in the river and swept some distance by the swollen waters before making his way to the riverbank.

The man then hitchhiked to Tubatse police station, outside Burgersfort, where he arrived at 9pm to find that the teenager had already reported the matter to the police.

The teenager had told the police that he had been forced to lead the kidnappers to the older man’s house, where they hoped to find the stolen cellphone and money.

“The 18-year-old managed to jump from the bakkie when they approached the house and ran to the police station to report the matter,” Ramatseba said.

He said police immediately followed the suspects and arrested them all.