POLOKWANE – The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe commends the operational team members for arresting four suspects allegedly involved in the kidnapping and brutal murder of three people in Maake, during mob attack incident that occurred on Wednesday, 23 August 2023.
According to the information members of Maake Detectives, Flying Squard(Highway Patrol), Mopani District Tracing Team, Crime Intelligence and Public Order Policing commenced an operation, on Thursday night, 24 August 2023 until the early hours of Friday, 25 August 2023 following leads about the possible places of the mob justice suspects . Four suspects aged between 26 and 51 were as a result tracked down and arrested separately around the area of Maake in Mopàni.
Their arrest comes after an incident in which, two men were brutally killed by vigilante group at Bokgaga Mokgolobotho village.
Police were alerted about the incident by one of the victims after he managed to escape. Upon their arrival at the scene at approximately 11h00, they found the burned bodies of two men. The crowd had already dispersed.
Police found an assortment of objects on the scene including stones. The third victim, who blew the whistle sadly also passed on while in hospital.
Preliminary Police’ investigation indicated that the community mobilised after they accused the three men of committing crimes in the area.
They then dragged the victims from their homes to the nearby mountain where they assaulted and burned them.
“We still call upon community members to report criminal activities to Police without taking the law into their own hands. We will leave no stone unturned in arresting perpetrators of Incidents of mob-justice because this is becoming a big challenge in the Province
We also appreciate all the teams involved in the arrest of this suspects,” said Lieutenant General Hadebe. The suspects will appear before Maake Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 28 August 2023 facing three counts of murder and kidnapping.
The Police investigations are still continuing.
Content retrieved from: https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=48046.
