Two appear in court for alleged abduction of Matangari farmer

The father of a 26-year-old man who was allegedly abducted and severely assaulted by three men, one armed with a firearm, said he was relieved that two of the suspects had been arrested. Mr Thilivhali Tshivhenga’s son, Lindelani Magidi, a well-known small-scale farmer, was allegedly abducted from his home at Matangari village on the night of 10 December 2023.

Magidi told Limpopo Mirror three days after his alleged kidnapping that his abductors had accused him of stealing the local headman’s goats. “They bundled me into a bakkie and started beating me. A guy who was sitting next to me in the back of the bakkie produced a firearm, put it next to my ear, and asked me about the goats. When I told him I didn’t know anything about the goats, he shot several times into the air, threatening that if I didn’t tell them about the goats, they would kill me.”

He said he was taken to the storeroom of a local lodge where he was severely assaulted. “After some time, my phone rang, and they answered it. It was my father wanting to know why I was not home yet, and fortunately, they knew my father. They untied me and drove back, then dropped me in the road next to my home. I had to crawl home as my knees were swollen and painful because they hit my knees very hard with the butt of a gun,” he said.

Magidi said he was very fortunate not to have switched his phone off. “That phone call saved my life,” he said. Tshivhenga said he recognised the voice of one of his son’s abductors. “He told me he is Mr Sithole, but I called him by his name and told him to release my son immediately, and that is exactly what he did.”

Tshivhenga, known as a very tough guy in the area, said he visited the alleged abductors the following morning. “They apologised and begged me not to open a case against them, but right after this meeting, I took my son to the doctor and opened a case. Two suspects were arrested immediately and are now in custody,” he said. He added that some unknown people were spotted prowling around his son’s house and farm. “I also picked up some information through the grapevine that my son might be harmed before the suspects appear in court, so I have taken him somewhere (else). He is in hiding at the moment,” he said.

The arrested suspects, Ntungufhadzeni Rathogwa and Ndivhuwo Rangolo, first appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court on 4 and 5 January and again on Thursday, 11 January. Their case was postponed to 29 January.

Date:19 January 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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