Coffin duo abandon bail bid amid protests
ONE of two Middleburg men accused of assaulting and forcing Victor Mlotshwa, a farm worker, inside a coffin on a farm near the Komati Power Station was described by his fellow workers as a “humorous man”.
“He loves joking and telling humorous stories. We were shocked to find out that he has done this.
“I guess he has always been a racist but he was hiding it,” said a farm worker at J M de Beer Boerdery farm.
He was describing accused Theo Martins Jackson, who works at the farm as a foreman.
When reporters arrived at the farm, about 37km from Middleburg, workers said the last time they had seen Martins was a week ago.
The workers said they had heard about the incident from the farm owner.
When the workers then saw the video on social media they were “shocked”.
Martins and his co-accused, Willem Oosthuizen, yesterday briefly appeared before the Middleburg Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga, for their bail application.
However, the two abandoned their bail application over security concerns.
Speaking with the media after the court proceeding, Mlotshwa recalled his ordeal saying that on the day of the incident, he was just walking along a footpath minding his own business when the two men attacked him.
“They told me that I was trespassing and that is when they started to beat me up. They tied me up. I could not do anything because these guys had a gun,” Mlotshwa said.
Shortly after the court adjourned, Mlotshwa’s mother, who was visibly shaken and highly emotional, had to be taken to hospital.
She was distraught, sobbing softly inside court as the proceedings commenced. When she left court, she appeared to faint and was rushed to hospital by ambulance.
The court case also turned into a political affair where EFF, DA and ANC representatives made their presence felt by songs outside.
The ANC and EFF held mini rallies about 200m from each other, where both party’s leaders addressed their supporters.
ANCYL deputy president Desmond Moela used the opportunity to lambast the EFF and DA for their presence at the court case, claiming singing struggle Victor was “an ANC and ANC Youth League member”.
“All these clowns he said.
A heavy police presence kept EFF and ANC crowds – who picketed in the same street – separated.
Moela said: “It is a pity . . . we wanted them [the accused] to come out so that we can fight with them. here are opportunist
“Racism must fall, and we will drive all racist white people to the sea,” he said.
The EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi questioned why police did not immediately arrest the two accused after the case had been opened.
The case has been postponed to January 25 for further investigation.