Former North West deputy police commissioner Maj-Gen Ntebo Jan Mabula and other officers accused of torture will appear in the Johannesburg high court in January 2021.
Mabula, together with Matome Kgorane, Samuel Sanamela Kutumela, Ismael Dawood, Adam Mahlako Moahloli, Mpikwa Meshack Makhubu, Mfana Patrick Makutu, and Israel Mdluli appeared on charges of kidnapping and assault with intention to do grievous bodily harm at the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Friday.
They stand accused of kidnapping, interrogating and assaulting for several hours Paul Kgwedi, Serious Mthembi, Richard Tlakulane Sebuyi.
The charges relate to an investigation they were conducting dating back a number of years.
Besides allegedly assaulting their victims, they also allegedly:
- Put a rubber cube over the face of the victims to suffocate them
- Tied a vehicle safety belt around their necks, strangled and dragged them about with the belt; and
- Tied them to a chair, with their wrists and ankles restrained, and placed a wet cloth over their faces, then applied electrical shocks.
Further, it is alleged that they intimidated some of the victims' families.
On Tuesday the high court in Johannesburg struck off the roll an application by the accused for a stay of prosecution, pending the outcome of representations to the national director of public prosecutions.
Sunday Times Daily reported previously that an investigator with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), who was leading an investigation into the same group of officers, was murdered during a suspected house robbery earlier this year.
TimesLIVE
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
