Teen ‘died of a broken neck’

THE TEENAGER killed in Coligny in the North West after allegedly being loaded into a bakkie by two farmers who accused him of stealing a sunflower from their field, died of a broken neck, his father said yesterday.

“His neck is broken, the head moves loosely from one side to another. He had a cut on his throat, on the chin and at the back of his neck. There is also blood in his month,” said Sakkie Dingake, describing how he found his son, Matlhomola Jonas Mosweu, at the government mortuary in nearby Lichtenburg on Sunday.

Matlhomola allegedly died when he either jumped out of the bakkie or fell from it.

His death sparked violent protests that left a trail of destruction in the small maize-producing town. Three houses and three trucks were torched.

Dingake, 45, of Scotland informal settlement near Tlhabologang, said his son was last seen on April 18 when his grandmother sent him to town to buy paraffin for her.

“He returned and went out. That was the last time we saw him. All the time we thought he had visited friends at a farm in Putfontein. He usually spent time with his friends there during the school holidays.”

Dingake said the family found out on Sunday that Matlhomola was dead.

Matlhomola’s mother Agnes Mosweu, 43, said: “I was at church when I received a telephone call to come to the police station.”

Dingake said their suspicions were confirmed when a primary school principal came to him and showed him a photo inquiring whether it was his son. He was taken to the government mortuary to identify him. “I am heartbroken,” he said. He refuted claims that Matlhomola had stolen. “Matlhomola did not steal sunflowers; he in fact does not eat sunflower seeds so why would he steal sunflower?”

He said his son would be laid to rest on Saturday.

Two farmers, Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte, appeared in the Coligny Magistrate’s Court on Friday. The matter was postponed to May 9.