Video: House of horror uncovered
A house of horrors which was used by vigilantes to illegally try, imprison and torture local residents was raided by police on Wednesday.
ACORNHOEK – A house of horrors which was used by vigilantes to illegally try, imprison and torture local residents was raided by police on Wednesday.
Fifteen men and women were arrested at the house and in Acornhoek, during a massive and well-planned police operation which was launched on Sunday and lasted late into Wednesday night.
Watch the video here:
A ward councillor who is member of the Bushbuckridge Residents Association Party (BRA) is wanted by police in connection with the crimes.
Evidence at the house shocked experienced police officers and told a story of barbaric human abuse. Stuck to a wall in the passage of the house was a poster of the Bill of Rights.
The isolated house, on the outskirts of the township, is in a dense natural bush.
Six victims who had been tried by the suspects’ kangaroo courts, were locked up and tortured brutally for months before escaping.
The victims, whose ages range from 16 to 46 years, spoke to Lowvelder at Acornhoek Police Station on Wednesday.
A 16-year-old boy said he had been tried in the court for sniffing glue.
They then tortured him by chaining him up and whipping him. He said the suspects also put their captives into holes dug in the ground around the house. He had been kept a prisoner for four months.
On Sunday he and five men escaped from the makeshift prison. Some had been captives for over a year.
A 46-year-old man said he had initiated the escape. He managed to get a young boy who was released from the house to smuggle a cellphone to him.
This man said he was kept and tried by the illegal court for arguing with his wife who had joined the BRA.
He phoned a friend and asked him to bring his vehicle close to the house. The six then crawled through a window and crept to the nearby road. From there they were taken to the local police station where provincial authorities were informed. A plan of action to break-up the vigilante ring and arrest the law breakers was hatched.
The escapees were taken to Tintswalo Hospital for treatment.
One victim pulled up his shirt to show the marks of where he had been whipped on his back. The soles of the victims’ feet were so badly beaten they could not walk. All six had wounds and recently healed scars to most of their bodies.
Police are keeping the men in witness protection for their safety.
According to Mr Joseph Mabuza, spokesman for community safety, security and liaison, the main suspect is still at large. He is the ward councillor of BRA,
Mr Delta Mokwena. Police at the scene of the crimes stated he was currently out on bail on charges related to previous similar crimes.
According to them he was recently seen leaving in a helicopter after his last appearance in the local Magistrate’s Court.
The MEC for safety and security, Mr Vusi Shongwe, accompanied police and the media to the scene and said, “We are saying as a government, this is South Africa, and we cannot allow people to take the law into their own hands.”
Listen to MEC, Mr Vusi Shongwe as he talks to Lowvelder about the raid here:
A picture of Mokwena’s face on a political poster hung on the gate in front of the house. A copy of a news report of when the premier Mr David Mabuza was chased away by the local community was also pasted to the wall in the passage.
In the one room a pair of handmade handcuffs was discovered.
But the true horror of the torture evidence was in the garden. A pole was found to which the suspects would chain a victim down and tie his arms and his ankles.
They would then severely beat the victim with a wooden pole, on the feet and body. Policemen re-enacted the torture method.
Two deep holes were found. The captives told police they would spend their days and nights in these holes, which were too deep to escape from. Scraps of pap were thrown down for them to eat.
He added that this raid would send a strong message that the law would not tolerate such crimes in the community.
Police dogs were then brought in to search for possible buried bodies around the perimeter, but nothing was found.
A member of the community on the scene said the vigilantes would force children to come and testify against people on trumped-up charges.
“Anybody who was jealous of you or didn’t like you could make you a target. There are people who have never been seen again after being brought here.”
Eight suspects appeared in the Acornhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday, another seven on Thursday.
They will appear again in court on Monday for their bail application. The police investigation and the hunt for Mokwena will continue.
The house, which belongs to the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, has subsequently been bulldozed. Shongwe said they would investigate how the suspects had managed to obtain use of it.
View more photos here:
