Killers on the loose - Floodgates on farm attacks open

Date: 08 October 2004 By: Andries van Zyl

Apart from these attacks, the floodgates on other violent crimes also opened. This greatly contributed to residents’ view that the local police have completely lost their grip on crime.

Over the last couple of days, murderous trigger-happy gunmen have targeted several members of the farming community, as well as other residents.

Their reign of terror started on Tuesday, September 28, with the first of four farm attacks. Four suspects overpowered a farm worker on the farm of Mr Niel McDowel on the Roodewal Road. After beating him into a state of semi-consciousness, they broke into the farmhouse and made off with two shotguns. Mr McDowel was not home at the time.

On Wednesday, September 29, a well-known police detective from the local detective branch, Detective Inspector Daniel Mthombeni, was apparently hijacked and shot dead near the Capricorn tollgate. His body, with two 9mm-gunshot wounds to the head and neck, was found hidden under bushes a few kilometres from where he had been hijacked, together with his abandoned vehicle. Only his 9mm service pistol and cellphone were taken.

The following evening (September 30) saw the death of one of the region’s most colourful members of the farming community, the 66-year-old Martin Armitage. He was apparently gunned down at the entrance gate to his farm, Melkhoutkopjes, although there is speculation that he might have been shot elsewhere and his body later dumped next to his abandoned bakkie at the gate. He died of a gunshot wound to the chest, also from a 9mm pistol. There seems to be no motive for the killing at this stage.

Hours after the discovery of Mr Armitage’s body on Friday, two armed men shot and killed a 35-year-old man in the veld next to the old Messina road in the vicinity of River Street. His 29-year-old female companion tried to escape but was recaptured, forced to lie on her stomach and then shot in the back. After the attackers had fled, the badly wounded woman managed to crawl almost a hundred metres to the N1 national road where a passerby came to her assistance. The motive for the attack seems to be robbery.

Following this incident, suspects tried to break into several parked vehicles at the Da Silva complex only a few hundred metres away later that same evening. Three vehicles’ windows were shattered. They also tried to hotwire a fourth vehicle, which caught fire and was completely destroyed.

On Tuesday, October 5, the spate of farm attacks continued. This time a group of six armed attackers ambushed the 61-year-old Mr Gillie Fick from the farm Sodom along the Vivo Road. He was assaulted, after which his attackers fled in his bakkie. The help of a specialist farmer support group was summoned, as well as that of the police. It was mainly as a result of the efforts of the farming community, however, that all six suspects, as well as three firearms, Mr Fick’s vehicle, and two other vehicles used in the attack, were recovered. The six attackers, allegedly operating as a syndicate from the Tembisa Township in Gauteng, were positively connected with the attack on Mr Fick. The possibility has also not been ruled out that the group of men might have had something to do with the death of Insp Mthombeni and Mr Armitage, as a 9mm pistol was amongst the weapons recovered. Only ballistic tests will be able to confirm their involvement. The attack on Mr Fick occurred at about 06:00.

However, the story does not end here. Just hours after the attack on Mr Fick, yet another farm worker was brutally attacked, assaulted and stabbed with a knife in the face on a farm along the Kutama/Sinthumule Road. Two men wearing balaclavas forced their way into the farmhouse by shattering a glass door. The farm worker, Mrs Anna Matibula (45), who works as a domestic servant, was also tied up with a piece of electric wire. A piece of cloth was stuffed inside her month to prevent her from screaming for help. The two attackers killed the farm owner’s little 14-year-old poodle and then proceeding to force open the safe. They ran off with a shotgun and an amount in cash. Mrs Matibula later managed to untie herself and summoned the help of a neighbouring farmer.

Almost all of these attacks were executed with military precision. It is evident that several of these attacks were planned well in advance. This supports the opinion of many that there is some cynical plot behind these attacks to destabilise the predominantly white farming community and force the people off their land in support of Government’s land reform programme. The police, however, say that these attacks on the farming community are nothing more than mere cases of armed robbery. The police are also blamed for creating a perception that criminals will get away with these crimes because of the police’s inability to bring them to book. Such was the case at Levubu a year ago. The then station commander of the police station allowed a situation to develop where the crime rate spun out of control. For weeks, the local farming community literally begged the police to bring about meaningful change. It was, however, only after the murder of a prominent member of the farming community during a farm attack, Mr Piet de Jager (65), that the provincial MEC for Safety and Security, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, finally intervened. This saw the removal of the station commander and the crime rate’s stabilising with the appointment of a new commander and management team. In the meantime, the government is continuously reminding the farming community that the farmers are responsible for their own safety. Sadly, when farmers then act accordingly, trying to protect their property and their own lives, they are eagerly prosecuted by the authorities. The farmers’ support group system has proven very effective in the past, as was the case in the capture of the six armed attackers on Tuesday. But they have already been warned by the government that their activities are construed as illegal and that they should stop immediately. This leaves the farming community again at the mercy of an obviously defunct police force.

“Why must somebody always die first before the ‘Powers that Be’ decide to do something about a situation that is obviously wrong?” As with the death of Mr De Jager, this question was again asked by members of the public this week. The local chairman of the Democratic Alliance, Mrs Marie Helm, says she finds it strange that the MEC is reluctant to act against the local police.

“Is it possible that somebody or someone is being protected?” she asked.

A family member of the late Mr Armitage, Col Mark Cook, expressed his utter shock and dismay about the crime situation locally and across the country. He is particularly outraged about the ruthless onslaught against the farming community which has seen the death of around 1 600 white farmers nationwide, mainly since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Col Cook, a retired British military colonel, flew in from England to attend to the funeral arrangements, as Mr Armitage had no immediate family in South Africa.

“Very little publicity about farm attacks in South Africa is given in England. I am very unhappy about this. Nobody talks about it,” Col Cook said. He too was unhappy about the way the local police handled Martin’s murder investigation.

“From what we heard, the police failed to secure the crime scene. This meant that any possible forensic evidence was lost.”

In reaction to the past week’s crime wave, Supt Ronel Otto from the police’s provincial headquarters in Polokwane stated that the management of the South African Police Service in the province has, over a period of time, become aware of problems regarding service delivery in Makhado (Louis Trichardt). She said that from the provincial side they have tried to address this issue through consultations and training, but that it recently became evident that their efforts were proving fruitless.

“The police’s provincial management already decided to intervene in Makhado last week,” Supt Otto said.

“The situation in the area is receiving urgent attention at the highest level and the possibility of departmental action and even the transfer of members (police officials) can not be ruled out,” she added.

The past couple of months saw a drastic increase in the number of farm attacks in the area. The following is a list of farm attacks and farmers killed during over a period of almost four years within the Soutpansberg region:

* April 26, 2000 - Mr Hannes Aldum (65) is killed during farm attack (Tshipise).

* June 19, 2000 - Mrs Linie Rottcher survives a farm attack, but her domestic worker is shot dead (Louis Trichardt).

* September 1, 2000 - Ms Karin Booyens (25) and Tyron Herbst (25) survive a farm attack (Sibasa).

* January 29, 2001 – Ms Susan Bristow is injured during a farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* July 22, 2001 – Elderly Terblance-couple survived a brutal farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* March 11, 2002 – Mr Rudi Schmidt (51) is killed during a farm attack (Pontdrif)

* July 8, 2002 – Van Tonder family survives a brutal farm attack (Pontdrif).

* January 23, 2003 – Mrs Markie Els (54) survives a farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* March 28, 2003 – Mrs Marlene Whitehead survives an attack on a farm road (Albasinidam).

* April 27, 2003 – Mr Frans Prinsloo’s farm house is burned to the ground while he is on vacation (Levubu).

* May 19, 2003 – Mrs Bettie Malan survives a violent attack and hijacking at a farm gate (Levubu).

* June 28, 2003 – Mr Flip Botha survives an attack on a farm road (Levubu).

* July 2, 2003 – Mr Fritz Wagner (72) is seriously wounded during a farm attack (Levubu).

* September 14, 2003 – Mr Johan de Wilde (48) and family survive a farm attack (Levubu).

* September 27, 2003 – Mr Piet de Jager (65) is killed during a farm attack (Levubu).

* March 16, 2004 – Mr Marthinus Steyn (81) is killed during a farm attack (Alldays).

* June 9, 2004 – Mr John Hekma (48) dies during a farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* 14 June, 2004 – Mr Werner (64) and Mrs Bridgitte Wiedeck (56) survive a brutal farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* June 15, 2004 – Mrs Celia Guillaume (43) and Mrs Marietjie du Toit (54) survive an extremely violent and brutal farm attack (Louis Trichardt)

* June 27, 2004 – Mr Philip du Toit (67) survives a brutal farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* September 28, 2004 – Farm labourer survives a brutal farm attack, after which attackers ransack farmhouse.

* October 1, 2004 – Mr Martin Armitage (66) is killed during farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

* October 5, 2004 – Mr Gillie Fick (61) survives a farm attack (Vivo).

* October 5, 2004 – Ms Anna Matibula (45), a domestic worker on a farm, is brutally assaulted during a farm attack (Louis Trichardt).

The above list is only those attacks made known to the newspaper. There may be other attacks as well which were not brought to our attention over the past four years.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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