BDF officers among Thamaga gang
Mpho Mokwape | Monday December 1, 2014 13:19
A secondary school teacher based in Palapye is also being questioned for his role in the gang after he was found transporting the gang members and entertaining them with beer the night before the gang went on a rampage in the village. Police are also looking for traditional doctors who are believed to be providing the gang with ‘lucky charms’.
The civil servants are reported to be the ringleaders, aiding gang members even though they are government workers. This was confirmed by the police at a Kgotla meeting on Saturday. They said that the gang is led by a few civil servants.
Divisional Traffic Officer South, Engemadzo Sechele, told angry residents who listened in disbelief, that there are also parents who work with the gangs.
Though he declined to comment on their work and positions, Sechele said the culprits are helping the police with investigations regarding gang activities in the village.
“We have elders who we have already arrested for aiding these gangss; and the sad part is that they are civil servants,” he said. Meanwhile, more shocking revelations came to light as unnamed traditional doctors were also identified as culprits in the escalating gang violence.
Chief and village representative, Julyus Koboyamodimo, revealed that some of the arrested gang members are found in possession of traditional medicine.
He further explained that they often confiscate knives, screwdrivers, scissors and small containers with the said traditional potions.
Koboyamodimo said the gangs members explained that they use witchcraft to deter police officers from arresting them.
“Just last week we arrested two boys and confiscated a lot of things from them including the witchcraft container. They explained that they have their own doctors who help them evade the police officers’ raids,” he said. Koboyamodimo pointed out that the traditional doctors do not even belong in Thamaga but they are residents by default.
He urged residents to desist from renting houses to people whom they do not know well. Residents responded by demanding to know if there are laws that give the chief the authority to oust the said people from their village.
One angry resident said that anyone caught practicing witchcraft, especially when it involves terrorizing the community must be thrown out.