Five Zanzou victims were at the club to celebrate matric results in January 2022, says police

Police said the three victims who came forward after the discovery of videos of torture and assault at Zanzou nightclub in Pretoria, explained that they were a group of five when they went to the establishment to celebrate their matric results in January 2022.

The videos, which have sparked outrage due to the horrific nature, show men hogtied while they are naked, they are beaten, their heads were submerged in buckets of water, and they forced to insert beer bottles in their private parts.

Since the disturbing videos emerged, three victims have come forward to lay charges against the perpetrators.

Speaking to the SABC, National police spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, said that the three victims explained that they had just received their matric results and decided to go to the club to celebrate.

"There was a dispute that arose between the five friends, bouncers, and the manager of this particular establishment. They were allegedly forced into a storeroom and assaulted. They were forced to perform sexual acts on themselves, they are alleging that the incident happened in January 2022," she said.

Mathe said they were still tracing the other two victims.

"The five are close friends and the other two it's just a matter of time until we trace them and take their statements. Our investigators are busy with the docket, and we will be wrapping up all the statements," she told the broadcaster.

She said police are currently looking at various offences that have been committed including compelled rape, assault, assault GBH, crimen injuria, and kidnapping.

"With the crimen injuria, it does seem as though these suspects intentionally violated the dignity of these five victims. When we talk about compelled rape, we look at the fact that they were forced to insert beer bottles into their private parts. The kidnapping, they were taken from the establishment and taken to the storeroom, and they were kept against their will, and they were assaulted and intimated," she explained.

Mathe also called on Pablo, a former bouncer at the club, to hand himself in after he posted on Tiktok and claimed responsibility for leaking the shocking videos.

"We are calling on him to report to any nearest police station in South Africa."

Pablo who claims his life is in danger, said he worked at the club for seven years and made several allegations where he partially implicated himself on the crimes committed against the victims.

According to Pablo, during the torture, no cameras were allowed, however, he managed to secretly film the heinous acts without being noticed.

He said he hid the phone on his chest while it was recording.

"I was acting like I was hitting them but at the same time [I'm secretly recording] because I couldn't take videos in that area because it was not allowed," he said in one of his videos.

Mathe said if Pablo participated in what happened to the victims, he would automatically be considered a suspect.

Pablo said he has more than 75 videos that he plans to release in the next few days.

On Tuesday, he released another video of a young man begging for his life while he was pinned on the floor wearing a hoodie but looks nude from the waist down.

I'm a student from the University of Limpopo okay. And I don't want anything from you. I won't do anything to people like you," he said, repeating himself.

Reacting to the horrific videos, Zanzou management released a statement and said it was aware of the videos, and claimed to have dismissed the security personnel responsible for the torture.

However, Pablo denied that he was fired, he said he stopped going to work after receiving his last salary and that's when he was targeted.

sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za

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