'Coligny Eyewitness lied about race attack'

The only witness in the infamous Coligny murder trial against two white men convicted for throwing a teenager from a bakkie has apparently admitted that he lied‚ according to a report in Sunday newspaper Rapport.

The newspaper said it had access to a recording in which Bonakele Pakisi says he lied when he testified against Pieter Doorewaard‚ 27‚ and Phillip Schutte‚ 34‚ due to be sentenced within a week for the murder of Matlhomola Moshoeu‚ 16‚ in April 2017.

His killing plunged the North West town into turmoil‚ with racial tensions causing chaos.

Shops were plundered and buildings set alight after Moshoeu was caught and killed, allegedly by the two white men, for stealing sunflowers.

But now a preacher from a town near Mahikeng‚ Paul Morule‚ has told Rapport that Pakisi had admitted to him that he had lied and that he could no longer stay silent about it.

However‚ Morule is employed by Pieter Karsten‚ uncle of Doorewaard‚ one of the convicted men.

“I am a man of God. I cannot allow two innocent people to go to jail for murder‚” he was quoted as saying.

He said he had met Pakisi through his aunt, who lives in Coligny.

In a recording made by Morule, Pakisi apparently says: “I was not there when the incident happened. I did not see anything.”

However, Pakisi told Rapport the recording was a set-up.

AfriForum said on Sunday it would offer legal aid to the two convicted men, due to be sentenced shortly. –