The fugitive wanted in connection with the disappearance of Sodwana Bay skipper John ‘Matambu’ Dercksen was reportedly apprehended for shoplifting in Bloemfontein – and let go after a court hearing.

The Zululand Observer reports that according to information, Tomas Frederik ‘Ferdie’ Visser was allegedly arrested for shoplifting in the Heidedal area of Bloemfontein on March 17 – one year and one day after Dercksen disappeared without trace.

Dercksen was last seen in the company of Visser when the latter chartered Dercksen’s boat in Sodwana Bay. He has since disappeared without a trace and his boat was later found, destroyed by a fire, in Mozambique.

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Visser’s hearing in Bloemfontein was reportedly held on March 18, the charge was withdrawn and he was released.

“It was R151 for two packets of smoked Viennas and a tin of beans, so they didn’t run his ID number, thinking it was just a petty theft,” said Cherie Eilertsen, Dercksen’s sister.

“I’m encouraged that we now know where he is… And he’s got to surface every two to three days to steal something to eat.

“I’m not focusing on the fact that they released him because there’s a lot of good that’s come from this; he’s living rough, nobody’s helping him, he’s having to steal.

“We now need to bring him in.”

Visser has been wanted in connection with Dercksen’s disappearance in March last year.

He was apprehended in Mozambique two months after Dercksen went missing, presumed murdered, but ‘botched’ extradition proceedings saw charges against him withdrawn.

Although he was sent back to prison to see out the remainder of a previous sentence for which he had been out on parole (and broken parole conditions), Visser managed to escape from the correctional facility in Mbombela at which he was being held while doing community service.

He has been on the run since. A warrant of his arrest was also issued earlier this year in connection with a sexual assault case in Mbombela.

An anonymous angler earlier this year posted a R100 000 reward for information leading to Visser’s arrest.