‘No justice for poorest of the poor’
THE South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the North West says the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision, to overturn the convictions of the men implicated in the murder of a Coligny teenager for allegedly stealing a sunflower, showed there was no justice for the poor.
Sanco reacted with shock to the acquittal on Friday of the two Coligny farmers previously found guilty for the murder of 16-year-old Matlhomola Mosweu.
Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte were found guilty of killing Matlhomola on April 20, 2017, by pushing him out of a moving van after they found him stealing sunflower heads worth R80, at their employer's field, at Rietvlei farm near Scotland informal settlement.
Judge Ronald Hendricks found them guilty, in October 2018, of murder, kidnapping, intimidation, theft and pointing a firearm.
Doorewaard was sentenced to 18 years behind bars and Schutte was handed 23 years.
The judge also said he had to consider the murder was not planned and the duo were first offenders, hence he deviated from imposing life sentences.
However, Doorewaard and Schutte had maintained their innocence throughout the trial.
They said they had put Matlhomola in the back of the bakkie to take him to the police station but he had jumped out on the way.
They enlisted the assistance of advocate Barry Roux and took the matter to the SCA to appeal their conviction and sentence, which was then successful. AfriForum covered the full costs of the application for appeal.
“The ruling, which effectively frees the alleged murderers convicted for Mosweu's ghastly murder, gives credence to the assertion that ‘ black lives do not matter' and that there is seemingly no justice for poorest of the poor, who are facing worst atrocities in rural communities,” Sanco provincial chair Paul Sebegoe said.
“It will undoubtedly reopen wounds that were beginning to heal in the hope that justice had been served,” he emphasised, appealing for calm.