Rustenburg – Three South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers accused of kidnapping and assault of two men appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Sinovuyo Botha, Aviwe Dosi and Sindile Ncomelo have been charged with the kidnapping and assault of Sibusiso Phetla, 39, and Jerome Lebaka, 41, in February this year.
According to AfriForum, the case took an unexpected turn on Monday, when the State prosecutor told the court that it was strongly suspected that a badly burnt body recently discovered was one of the two men who had been missing.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit is on a watching brief on behalf of Phetla’s mother, Mirriam Phetla.
"AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has been reliably informed that two of the country’s most senior generals have also been implicated in the crime, but despite instructions from the prosecutor for them to be arrested, this has not happened," said spokesperson Barry Bateman.
"The prosecutor told the court that DNA samples have been obtained from the recently discovered body, as well as the parents of one of the missing men. The matter was postponed until February 8 2023 to ensure the DNA results are available to the court."
He said in August, AfriForum’ unit filed a service complaint with the South African Police Service against the investigator who had been assigned to the case.
"The unit was reliably informed that the detective had simply ignored several instructions from the prosecutor and as a result numerous aspects of the investigation were still outstanding," Bateman said.
In June, the police asked the public to help locating the two men were last seen on the evening of Saturday, January 13, 2022, at Magasyn Street in Salvokop near the military base with a friend.
"It is alleged that the three men were attacked by three suspects, who have since been arrested," Captain Augustinah Selepe said in a statement at the time.
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