MARA – A man suspected of complicity in an organized crime network in the Blouberg region, Vincent Malinga Manthata, appeared in the local court on Monday (23).

Manthata, who allegedly threatened to kill members of the community who confronted him, and boasted that the police would not arrest him, because they were afraid of him, remains in custody and will appear again on March 17 in the Louis Trichardt Magistrates Court on charges of poaching, theft, resisting arrest and escape from lawful custody.

Magistrate Bennie Smith postponed the case, mainly due to the unavailability of an interpreter.

Manthata's two co-accused on the charges of poaching, Annanias Mashabathaga and Thomas Senyolo, are out on bail of R1000 each. Mashabathaga was frantically busy on his cellphone immediately after the court had adjourned and desperately tried to avoid the media.

Meanwhile serious questions are being asked in the Blouberg community about the circumstances surrounding the escape of Manthata, shortly after a private security official had to be brought in to arrest him and his co-accused. Rumours are rife about possible police complicity in an apparent organised crime network, which has plagued the community for well on two years.

"We are experiencing an unbelievable quiet on all crime fronts since the arrest of Manthata," said Mr Japie van der Goot, chairman of the security committee of the local farmers association, this week. A considerable number of members of the local farming community were present at the Mara courthouse.

According to reports, Manthata and his followers were caught red-handed poaching on farmlands, but allegedly attacked the guards who wanted to apprehend them. They also allegedly used their poaching spears and set their hunting dogs on the guards. After the incident was reported to the police, it is rumoured that police efforts to arrest them also failed. A private security official, Mr Fanie Geyer, was called in to affect an arrest. Shortly after they had been taken into custody and handed over to the police, Manthata evidently escaped from the police station at Mara, when he was brought from the cells to have his fingerprints taken.