Johannesburg - The investigating officer in the murder case of AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche has been arrested, police said on Friday.
While declining to name him, Hawks spokesperson Musa Zondi confirmed Captain Tsietsi Mano has been arrested along with seven other police officers for allegedly assaulting a suspect in a house robbery case.
"The suspect that was assaulted was another policeman," said Zondi.
Mano and the seven other officers were called to a police office, where they were arrested by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) on Friday. They were all released on bail of R500 without appearing in court, said Zondi.
"A magistrate was at hand," he said about their release. He declined to give any details about where the arrest took place, or to release the officers names, neither did he have any details of the alleged house robbery case.
Main State witness
Mano, as the investigating officer of the Terre'Blanche murder case, was one of the main State witnesses in the case against 28-year-old Chris Mahlangu.
Mahlangu and a 15-year-old boy are accused of bludgeoning the Afrikaaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader to death in his room on his farm just outside Ventersdorp in the North West on Easter Saturday.
Mahlangu's formal bail application was expected to continue in the Ventersdorp Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Zondi said there were no reasons why Mano would not be able to testify.
"I don't see any reason why he wouldn't be able to (testify)," he said.
Mahlangu's lawyer, Puna Moroko said the bail application would continue.
He appeared confident that the application would be successful. "I normally get what I want in court," he said.
The ICD could not be reached for comment on Friday night.
