No bail for farmer in fiery protest
DA slams Cele for not addressing farmers’ concerns at number of rural murders
THE 52-year-old year-old farmer accused of attempted murder and malicious damage to property will spend this weekend in police custody after the Senekal Magistrate’s Court yesterday postponed his bail application hearing to Tuesday.
The farmer was arrested on Wednesday after violent protests at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court during which he was part of a group who had stormed the court.
The group of farmers demanded that the two suspects – Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa – appearing before the court in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Paul Roux farmer manager Brandin Horner be released to them.
The 52-year-old man was arrested and charged for his part in the toppling and torching of a police van inside the court premises while a video also shows the disgruntled group of farmers attempting to topple a police Nyala.
Phaladi Shuping, Free State NPA spokesperson, said the state had opposed the farmer’s bail application due to the seriousness of the offences and the fact that the 52- year-old man had previously served a three-year sentence for theft after being charged in 2011.
“The bail application took place in the court today, but the magistrate did not give judgment and the case was postponed to October 13 for the magistrate to give judgment as to whether he is going to grant him bail or not. The accused is still in custody up until next week Tuesday,” said Phaladi.
Dianne Kohler Barnard, DA MP and spokesperson on State Security, said that while the sight of the small group of farmers protesting and moving on the court in Senekal shook South Africa, the reality was that had Police Minister Bheki Cele led instead of blaming, the farmers’ anger “would in all probability not have boiled over as it did”.
“Cele has had every opportunity to deal with this issue, and there are now white crosses as far as the eye can see, each reflecting another rural murder.
“It has become obvious, even to those who wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, that Minister Cele is not up to the job, any more than he was up to the job of National Police Commissioner,” Kohler Barnard said.
Ernst Roets, deputy chief executive of Afrikaner civil rights group Afriforum, said this week that the group of farmers were not only people expressing their sympathy and compassion, but they were also furious about the situation in the country.
Roets said that “the fury” that the group of farmers had expressed in Senekal was the consequence of “the cruelty of a problem that simply persists, coupled with the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards farm murders”.