Murder at a farm funeral sparks racial tensions in the rural idyll of Midlands
● A cluster of mud homes and a fresh grave on a farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands are at the centre of land conflict spanning decades between a local farmer and a farming community.
The burial of Jabulani Lembethe, 47, on Saturday last week set in motion a series of events that resulted in a mourner being killed, a farmer arrested, the farmer’s partner being attacked and a neighbour stabbed to death in the Cramond area, about 25km east of Pietermaritzburg.
Philip Solomon, 65, is accused of shooting Mothiwa Ngubane, 42, during an argument between the farmer and mourners attending the funeral on Solomon’s property.
Solomon allegedly pulled a gun and fired a shot at Lembethe’s brother, Mondli, and at Ngubane, who allegedly tried to intervene.
The death has highlighted racial faultlines in the farming community.
While Solomon sat in prison awaiting a bail hearing, his life partner was attacked on their property. At Solomon’s first court appearance, protesters chanted “kill the boer . . . kill the farmer” outside court. He is due to appear again at the bail hearing on Tuesday.
Lembethe’s sister, Zandile Lembethe, said Solomon had tried to stop the funeral.
“He doesn’t want our people here. He did the same thing with my mother when we buried her in 2000,” she said.
More blood was shed on Thursday when 78-year-old June Butler was stabbed to death on her farm in Cramond in what police described as a “senseless murder”.
Hours later, Solomon’s partner Marie Louise Bucher, 60, was attacked in her home by three men who punched her repeatedly. Police spokeswoman Captain Gay Ebrahim said robbery could not be confirmed as a motive for the attack.
In the days leading up to the funeral, a white farmer berated mourners who had visited the Lembethe home.
In a video clip of the exchange, obtained by the Sunday Times, the unnamed farmer launched a racial tirade at a group of mourners whom he accused of being loud.
“The whole weekend we have to listen to you lot. Get off Philip Solomon’s land . . . you just squat here . . . when the whites were ruling this country it worked,” he said. “You must watch out, your time is coming.”
Former Pietermaritzburg mayor Chris Ndlela, whose family home is on a farm run by Solomon’s elder brother Guy, said burial rights had long been a point of conflict.
“I lost an uncle in a tractor accident while he was working for the same farmer. When we wanted to bury him, the farmer came with the police and tried to stop us . . . we eventually persisted by force,” said Ndlela.
Ndlela said the recent killing and farm attacks had stoked racial tensions and a longstanding conflict over land.
The KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture Union’s Sandy la Marque said Ngubane’s murder had fuelled tensions in the area over land.
Guy Solomon, through his attorney, said that he had allowed funerals on his farm.
“I did not try to stop a funeral. We stay in a water-sensitive area and many springs arise on the farm. A local organisation informed us that because of water seepage, which goes directly into Albert Falls dam, funerals and burials should not happen in those sensitive areas,” he said.
“If the Umgeni water is contaminated please do not blame us,” he said.