Police in the Tshamutumbu area have arrested a local commercial safari operator, his son and seven game rangers employed at the farm for allegedly savagely assaulting two Zimbabweans before leaving them for dead in a bushy area in Waterpoort.

The victims were being accused of poaching on the suspects’ farm.

Police spokesman for Limpopo Province Superintendent Ailwei Mushavhanamadi told Mirror that the incident occurred on Thursday, March 8, at a farm in Malale area near Musina town. The suspects were arrested between Saturday and Wednesday last week, following intensive police investigations.

"The alleged suspects ganged up and confronted the two victims, who are Zimbabweans, and started accusing them of poaching on their property before they eventually assaulted them, using sticks and pangas until they fell unconscious. They then blindfolded the two victims and drove them to Waterpoort where they dumped the two men at different spots, apparently thinking they were dead," he said.

Initially police arrested six suspects before they eventually arrested the other the three suspects on Wednesday.

Mushavhanamadi said one of the victims, Abednico Mudungwazi (35), managed to regain consciousness. Some motorists saw Mudungwazi and eventually assisted him by ferrying him to the nearby police station where he subsequently reported the matter. However, the other victim, Simon Mudungwazi (30), is still missing. The two brothers had been employed at the farm for the past two years.

Abednico was admitted to Musina Hospital and was discharged on Tuesday (13 March).

"We have launched investigations concerning the whereabouts of the other victim, who is still missing, and we are also appealing to community members to assist us in that regard," said the police spokesman.

The suspects, Sathulani Mudau (36), Shule Siziba (31), Edward Ndou (45), Lavhelesani Ndou (26), Samuel Ndou (36), Elvis Kwinda (52), Petrus Bezuidenhout (23), Fredrick Pretorius (49) and Thomas Khoza (51), made their initial court appearance at the Musina Magistrates’ Court on Friday, facing kidnapping and attempted murder charges.