Danie Krügel
Danie Krügel is a former South African police officer currently employed as Director (see p. 79), Protection Services and Occupational Health & Safety at Bloemfontein’s Central University of Technology. Mr Krügel claims to have invented a novel technology called a “Matter Orientation System” (MOS) for locating missing items and people, and he has featured in numerous newspaper articles and investigative TV programmes in SA such as 3rd Degree and Carte Blanche where his claimed ability has been naïvely highlighted, usually in connection with missing persons cases. The disappearances of Madeleine McCann and, more recently, Kerry Winter are among the more prominent cases in which Mr Krügel’s help has been requested, but there are several others including that of 7-year-old Sheldean Human, policewoman Francis Rasuge and Anisha van Niekerk.
Mr Krügel is very secretive about his alleged invention but insists that it is “science, science, science! … just science,” using quantum principles in conjunction with the global positioning satellite system (GPS). Briefly, he requires a small sample of the material whose source he is asked to locate – a cutting of hair in the case of a human – which he then uses to perform what he calls “measurements” from a few different positions before announcing the source’s current location within reasonable limits. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that there is no known mechanism that can account for Mr Krügel’s supposed technology working as he describes, and they are therefore eager to validate his claims to novelty. However, Mr Krügel appears overly reluctant to submit to any formal testing by an independent and trustworthy authority. His main concern seems to be that he will have to reveal his trade secrets, a concern that is invalid since such testing need not establish how it works, only that it does work.
For people and families whose loved ones have disappeared, especially young children, Mr Krügel’s claims are a beacon of considerable hope and therein lies perhaps the most compelling reason for Mr Krügel to verify his claimed abilities. How much more ultimately cruel and ruinous is it to live in protracted false hope than to face a potentially devastating truth – a false hope that has been actively nurtured by uncritical media with a craving for perpetual sensationalism? Added to which, if Mr Krügel’s claims do not prove out, there exists a clear danger of significant amounts of wasted effort in pursuing false leads. Recently, Mr Krügel has also claimed that his device is able to detect cancer and other diseases in patients, a claim that is clearly dangerous if found to be untrue.
For these reasons, it is essential that Mr Krügel’s ongoing promotion of himself and by the media be opposed until such time as the validity or otherwise of his claims has been determined.
