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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Shot Ottosdal farmer dragged 1,5km behind bakkie
23:22 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
When the suspected killers of farmer André ‘Brood’ van der Merwe dragged him 1,5km by his feet behind his bakkie, they did not know whether he was still alive: testimony in Ottosdal court
This was the testimony of the investigating policeman, warrant-officer Pacton Ntlhaile, during the bail application of the three accused in front of magistrate Chadrack Mokobane in the Ottosdal magistrate's court. Accused are Thabo Matlhoko, Diphapang Paul Kwa-Kwa (29) and Shadrack Thapelo Smith (31) of Letsopa-township near Ottosdal. They are expected to plead not guilty to murder charges and other related crimes involving the gruesome death of the popular auctioneer/farmer André ‘Brood’ van der Merwe on his farm Gestoptefontein on 30 April 2011.
The court heard that the bail-applicants were expected to plead not guilty. It was not made entirely clear why they would do this: warrant-officer Ntlhaile had listeners in the public gallery weep with grief when he read a statement by Matlhoko - describing in detail about Mr van der Merwe’s last living moments: "The accused went to Mr Van der Merwe's home near sunset. The accused suspected that Van der Merwe had heard them fiddle with his back door: the farmer stepped outside. When Smith noticed that the deceased had a rifle with him, Smith shot him twice from behind in his neck. Mathlhoko took Van der Merwe's rifle away from him and also fired a shot.'
Post mortem findings do not agree with Mathlhoko’s statement to investigating cop:
However – details from the coroner's report of the injuries, also introduced at the bail application, do not agree with this statement: it showed that Mr van der Merwe was shot four times - twice in the back, once behind the left ear and once in the cheek. The three then tied Mr Van der Merwe 's feet to his, dragging him 1,5km behind his bakkie before leaving his body behind. They didn’t know whether he was still alive at this stage. They took little of real value: some food, cellphones, booze, clothing, shoes and cash. Many other items of value were left behind."Matlhoko told me” -- said the investigating officer -- 'that he wanted to offload the other two and go and have a nice time in Delareyville. He rolled Mr Van der Merwe's bakkie enroute to Delareyville and was knocked unconscious by the crash. He was arrested at the scene. The .38 revolver suspected of being used in the murder was also found at the accident scene. He led us to the two other suspects at 3am on Sunday'.
The Ottosdal community held solemn prayer meetings outside the court room
Threatening phone calls to state-witnesses:
State-prosecutor Stephan Fritz wanted to know whether Mr Van der Merwe may still have been alive when he was dragged behind the bakkie: the investigating officer said ‘he did not know’.
Pro-deo defence counsel Theo Venter pointed out that Matlhoko’s human rights may have been violated, noting that "Matlhoko may not have been fully conscious after the accident, and there was no statement in the dossier in which Matlhoko's rights were explained to him. The investigating officer also did not submit an application to trace alleged threatening phone calls which were made to state witnesses….'
source:
Picture of ACCUSED MURDERERS OF BOER ANDRÉ VAN DER MERWE, OTTOSDAL, TOP RIGHT: APR 30 2011 by Beeld journalist Nicolize van der Walt – THE AUCTIONEER/FARMER WAS DRAGGED 1,5KM BEHIND HIS BAKKIE: ltr: accused of dragging farmer Brood van der Merwe of Ottosdal 1,5km behind his bakkie April 30 2011 and shooting him dead are: Thabo Matlhoko, Diphapang Paul Kwa-Kwa and Shadrack Thapelo Smith. Matlhoko submitted a detailed description of André van der Merwe’s murder to the investigating officer -- but it was submitted in their bail application hearing that they would be pleading not guilty. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Lekker-tyd-beplan-na-moord-20110524
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Famine threat: blacks neglect confiscated Boer farms
“ Famine threatens even South Africa – Swedish news report: ‘Svält hotar även Sydafrika ”
Zimbabwe suffers famine since chasing off its white farmers – now food-shortages also threaten in South Africa for the same reasons, according to a Swedish publication today. Their journalists toured SA, visiting and interviewing commercial farmers about the growing famine-problems facing the country.
They also interviewed Nylstroom farmer Barend Pienaar, who was forced to hand over his well-utilised, modern farm to the ANC-regime”. He took them on a tour of his sadly neglected former farm. The Swedish journalists noted that the ‘new black farmers’ who were installed on Pienaar’s land with their very large extended families, are however not producing any food for the markets on any kind of commercial basis at all: “They are just happy to stay there with their extended families, they are not farming… ’
Original text in Swedish (google translate really does not do it justice):
“Zimbabwe har drabbats av svält sedan de vita farmarna jagats ut, nu hotar livsmedelsbrist även i Sydafrika. Ännu konfiskeras inte marken officiellt, men de m
ånga morden och nya lagar gör att jordbruk läggs ned varje dag. Nationell Idag har besökt både vita farmare som ansett det nödvändigt att säga upp sina svarta anställda, och farmer som drivs av svarta.Boer Barend Pienaar driver en viltfarm utanför Nylstroom. Hans farm, liksom många runtomkring, var tidigare ett produktivt jordbruk. Alla har gått över till verksamheter som inte är så arbetsintensiva – antingen mekaniserar man eller så hittar men en verksamhet som familjen själv kan sköta. Det beror på nya lagar som ANC stiftat.
Enligt de nya lagarna har svarta som bor på en farm automatiskt rätt till en del av marken. Det räcker med att de vistas där 24 timmar, så har de rätt att ta dit hela sin släkt, vilket vanligen omfattar flera dussin personer. För att inte bli av med sin farm tvingas farmarna att bara anställa arbetare som inte bor på farmen.
Vi åker förbi många hus på farmerna som nu står öde. De hade ställts i ordning för svarta arbetare av farmarna, med el, vatten och avlopp. Nu tvingas många av dessa svarta att bo i något slumområde och i bästa fall – om farmen inte gått över till annan verksamhet – pendla till jobbet. http://www.nationellidag.se/visa/default.asp?dokID=1506
The FAO hunger-map completely ignores South Africa – as if the country is stil producing enough food for the entire 50-million-strong population: meanwhile it now has to import more than half of all its staple-foods from off-continent now: the agricultural industry is collapsing…
De Klerk warns Malema: stop dehumanising whites
De Klerk: ‘Malema hacks away at national reconciliation foundation with his hatespeech against whites: and warns him to ‘stop using dehumanising language…’
