Crime specialist to investigate assault

THABAZIMBI – One of the country’s best investigators into serious violent and economical crimes, Mike Bolhuis of Specialized Security Services, will investigate the explosive situation between farmers and the local police. Mr Bolhuis has been appointed by Vis Gladius, a national security company, to investigate a case in which a farmer, Kruger Robberts, five of his farm workers and Vis Gladius security personnel were taken into custody after apprehending an alleged thief. These accused appeared in the Thabazimbi regional court on 8 November on counts of attempted murder. Bail was set at R500 for all ten accused. The case was postponed until 6 December 2007. According to a spokesman for the farmer’s union, Machiel Reinecke, the reluctance of the police to act against these thieves is obvious and the events hereafter often follow the same pattern. “If cable thieves are caught and the police summoned, it would take the police a long time to arrive. Once taken into custody, alleged cable thieves would be back on the streets in no time.” A TAU delegation have twice had discussions with the provincial adjudant commissioners from Polokwane regarding the problems farmers experienced with the police. In recent discussions between TAU SA and Commissioner Pruis in October 2007 he undertook to look into the situation, especially allegations of unlawful arrests. According to specialist crimes investigator Mike Bolhuis he intends to investigate all allegations from all possible angles to expose the whole truth. Anybody who wants to submit information can contact him on his cellular 082-447-6116 or fax him on (012) 808-3671 or (012)808-5354.