The police officers, which include six men and one woman, are charged with assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm. This follows allegations of assaulting hitchhikers in 2017. The court has summoned a witness to testify about the events of the incident in question. The trial has for numerous times and reasons been postponed.

The hitchhikers, Edgar Mokotso and three others, were on the N1 outside Trompsburg heading to Edenburg. While on their journey, they got a lift from a white panel van. They were later accused by the police officers of robbing a local furniture store. Mokotso alleged that the police officers in question assaulted them while they were in custody before being released for wrongful arrests the same day.

One of the postponements was due to some of the police officers failing to appear before the court, which resulted in them getting arrested. The station commander of the Trompsburg Police Station and a local sergeant also failed to make their appearance as witnesses in July 2020.

In December 2020, the victims won a lawsuit against the police, which resulted in them being compensated with thousands of rands. 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.

The DA has started a campaign against police brutality. The campaign came in the wake of a recent viral video purportedly showing SAPS VIP officers in Fourways, Gauteng, assaulting unarmed people.

The DA’s Andrew Whitfield said although they welcome the suspension of the VIP officers and the criminal charges against them, more still needs to be done. “The DA has been at the forefront in the fight against police brutality since the lockdown of 2020, when hundreds of incidents of police abuse were reported to the DA,” he said.

Back to the Free State. A senior team of police officers has been appointed to investigate allegations in which the station commander of the Ventersburg police station is involved.

The investigation comes after a video was distributed on social media of Capt. Francois Odendaal, the station commander, throwing a man into a prison cell. In the relevant video, the station commander says he is arresting the man – the EFF's vice-chairman of the Lejweleputswa region, Rasake Ntuli – for assaulting a police officer. However, one of the people in the background hints that the station commander is not honest.

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