Night patrol with Mochudi Police

It was a breezy nightshift (8pm-4am), as we jumped into an open van and joined a group of seven police officers tasked with patrolling the Bakgatla village and its neighbouring settlements. Actually, there were two groups of seven in two different vans. Last week, two brutal murder cases were recorded in Mochudi, one involving a 16-year old boy who was found dead on a road in the village. His family says he was on his way to church for an all-night prayer. The other was a 25-year old man who jumped in front of a moving passenger train after killing his 27-year old girlfriend. But again, The Midweek Sun learned that four bodies of people stabbed with knives were kept at one of the mortuaries in Mochudi on that Saturday of January 20.

Below are the incidents that we captured: We started off by driving towards the popular Bee Six nightclub at around 8:30pm. Police officers spotted a man urinating along the road and warned him against it. The club was packed and the police crew told us that more people would be coming as the night was still young. As we drove on, we spotted two young people cuddling under a tree. The police stopped the van and asked for their age, and what they were doing. Both said they are 14 years old and they went on to give conflicting accounts of their escapade. All at once, in their offer of who they were, the girl said the boy was her cousin while the boy said they were classmates and that he had come all the way from Rasesa to meet her. Her house was not far from their meeting place. This was just after 9pm. The police officers asked the boy to jump into the van as they offered to take him to his home. He had lied, he was just from within Mochudi, not Rasesa. As he jumped off, we spotted another young couple kissing under another tree. These ones were a lot older, and the officers of the law again talked to them about the dangers of their rendezvous, but they just smiled off the police warning.

Pilane; The police stopped along the road and searched two young men, looking to be in their late teens. One had a pair of scissors inside his pocket and when asked what he was doing with it, said he had gone to collect it from his brother who wanted to cut his dreadlocks. After a 10 minutes drive, we could smell dagga that was smoked by two young men, also looking to be in their late teens. They lounged under a kombi shelter. When searched, they too were found to have two pairs of scissors and a small bag of dagga. They were handcuffed and throw into the van. The police officers told us that smokers used the scissors to cut dagga leaves and also to stab people. We also met a man in his early 20s holding beer along the road. It appears he was a known mute in the area as he was quick to throw away the bottle and apologised, leaving the officers in stitches. Interestingly, he later showed up at the police station around 1:20am asking to be taken home to his girlfriend saying he was afraid of being attacked. The police obliged, and took the man home as per his plea. We then drove back to the base where cases were recorded. There we found around four other young men caught drinking in public places. However, their relatives had come to rescue them by paying a P100 charge.

Round two At Pilane Bar, Police officers called to order a young girl wearing hot pants that were barely covered by a short t-shirt. They asked her why she was not covered on the lower parts of her body from waist-down – they quickly warned her and ordered her to go home and cover herself “or else you will be coming later to report rape at the station after bars close.' But she was having none of it as she joined her laughing friends. The police let her be, and proceeded to check ATM machines around the mall, and would ask security guards whether all was well. We returned to Mochudi around 11pm and there was a bit of commotion as we joined another police batch at Honeybee liquor restaurant. They were confiscating some large speakers and an entire sound system that allegedly had been played outside the bar. The DJs had apparently run away, fearing an arrest. A police officer told us it was not allowed to play music outside the bar or club. At the same time, police officers were busy handcuffing people who were reported to have been caught taking pictures of the law officers. What happens, according to the officers, is that revelers usually steal their pictures and post them on Facebook, insulting them. They were taken to the police station where they were questioned. Round three At Morwa. It is after midnight and the officers are ensuring that bars are closed. They carry out the same operation in Bokaa. In Pilane, one bar was still opened and the police forced it to close. Along the way, some people are caught holding beer bottles and cans. Back at the base, clusters from neighbouring cattleposts are coming with Zimbabwean men for being in the country illegally. Young men would also come in with bloodstained clothes to report assault.