MBOMBELA – A suspect who managed to flee from the police on Monday ended up in their custody anyway after his hiding place was discovered due a veld fire.
Sgt Gerald Sedibe, spokesman for the Mpumalanga police, confirmed that Mr Bongani Chris Zitha appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of drug possession.
Mr Ryan Eatwell, the manager of Nkuba Estates, the farm near Alkmwaar where Zitha was apprehended, says they were burning fields when Zitha, a stranger, came out of the bush.
“He asked some of the workers for directions to the main road and walked off. They told me they saw a suspicious man and I stopped him. When I asked what he was doing on the farm, he said he had been hitchhiking when thugs attacked him. He ran away and got lost in the bush. He said he had a taxi to catch as he didn’t want to be late for work the next day.”
Eatwell called J&M Security. He said Zitha told them that he had been travelling in a truck with a few bags of dagga on his person when they were stopped by police on the N4. They allegedly chased him across the Crocodile River.
According to Eatwell, he must have crossed about two kilometres of bush, various fences and the river to get to the spot where he was discovered from the road.
This was until the fire forced him to leave his hiding place. The SAPS were called and Zitha was taken to the Nelspruit Police Station.
At the time of going to print, it was unclear whether he had posted bail. Sedibe confirned that the case had been postponed to a later date.
- Read more on a recent drug bust at the border here.
