There was bedlam at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, with shots fired and a police van overturned and set alight, as a large group of angry farmers and community members demanded that two men arrested for the murder of Free State farm manager Brendin Horner, 21, be released and handed over to them.
The suspects, Sekwetje Isaiah Mahlamba, 32, and Sekola Piet Matlaletsa, 44, were arrested on Saturday at Fateng tse Ntho in Paul Roux and appeared briefly in court on Tuesday.
Horner’s bloodied body was found on Friday tied to a pole on the De Rots farm in Paul Roux.
He had failed to arrive home after finishing work on Thursday and his body was found at 6am the next day by his father.
He had been tortured, stabbed and strangled, and a knife was found nearby on his cap.
Isoldé Laesecke, a Bethlehem businesswoman who lives on a smallholding, said Tuesday’s protest at the court was a result of fear and anger.
“We are just so sick and tired of the violence. We are so tired of being scared,” Laesecke said.
She said about 1,500 people, including farmers and farm workers, had gathered to express their frustration.
“It’s about farmers and food but there is also the human aspect.
“To lose a son who is just 21 is the eina [sore] part.
“There is a mom and a dad and his [Horner’s] mother is in the hospital now because she just cannot cope with what happened.
“His father is also not doing well.”
She said the farmers and others who had come to support them were saying that enough was enough and that they could not continue to live in fear.
“I live on a smallholding and every time I go to the horses [stables] I am afraid.”
Laesecke said she had organised a Black Friday march against farm murders in 2017 as she believed women also needed to make their voices heard.
“It is always men talking but, as a woman, if it [an attack] happens to me, I will be raped and tortured.
“Women pay the biggest price,” she said.
Lobby group AfriForum in a statement on Tuesday branded farm attacks and murders as a form of terror.
“The solution for the problem has two sides,” AfriForum head of policy and action Ernst Roets said.
“The message of farm murders must be spread to the ends of the earth and taken to the council chambers of the UN to ensure that the international community takes note.
“The second part of the solution — which is even more important — is for people to realise that the government will not solve the crisis.
“Communities must rather become the solution themselves by joining community safety structures to enable them to look after their own safety.”
Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said the case against Mahlamba and Matlaletsa had been postponed to October 16 for a formal bail application.
Makhele said an “unruly group” of farmers had stormed the court building after the court proceedings and demanded that the suspects be handed over to them.
They had allegedly damaged court property while forcing their way to the cells.
Farmers storm court building in bid to get hands on suspects
Image: SAPS
There was bedlam at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, with shots fired and a police van overturned and set alight, as a large group of angry farmers and community members demanded that two men arrested for the murder of Free State farm manager Brendin Horner, 21, be released and handed over to them.
The suspects, Sekwetje Isaiah Mahlamba, 32, and Sekola Piet Matlaletsa, 44, were arrested on Saturday at Fateng tse Ntho in Paul Roux and appeared briefly in court on Tuesday.
Horner’s bloodied body was found on Friday tied to a pole on the De Rots farm in Paul Roux.
He had failed to arrive home after finishing work on Thursday and his body was found at 6am the next day by his father.
He had been tortured, stabbed and strangled, and a knife was found nearby on his cap.
Isoldé Laesecke, a Bethlehem businesswoman who lives on a smallholding, said Tuesday’s protest at the court was a result of fear and anger.
“We are just so sick and tired of the violence. We are so tired of being scared,” Laesecke said.
She said about 1,500 people, including farmers and farm workers, had gathered to express their frustration.
“It’s about farmers and food but there is also the human aspect.
“To lose a son who is just 21 is the eina [sore] part.
“There is a mom and a dad and his [Horner’s] mother is in the hospital now because she just cannot cope with what happened.
“His father is also not doing well.”
She said the farmers and others who had come to support them were saying that enough was enough and that they could not continue to live in fear.
“I live on a smallholding and every time I go to the horses [stables] I am afraid.”
Laesecke said she had organised a Black Friday march against farm murders in 2017 as she believed women also needed to make their voices heard.
“It is always men talking but, as a woman, if it [an attack] happens to me, I will be raped and tortured.
“Women pay the biggest price,” she said.
Lobby group AfriForum in a statement on Tuesday branded farm attacks and murders as a form of terror.
“The solution for the problem has two sides,” AfriForum head of policy and action Ernst Roets said.
“The message of farm murders must be spread to the ends of the earth and taken to the council chambers of the UN to ensure that the international community takes note.
“The second part of the solution — which is even more important — is for people to realise that the government will not solve the crisis.
“Communities must rather become the solution themselves by joining community safety structures to enable them to look after their own safety.”
Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said the case against Mahlamba and Matlaletsa had been postponed to October 16 for a formal bail application.
Makhele said an “unruly group” of farmers had stormed the court building after the court proceedings and demanded that the suspects be handed over to them.
They had allegedly damaged court property while forcing their way to the cells.
He said a police van parked outside the court had also been overturned and burnt.
“Two shots were fired from this group but no-one was injured,” Makhele said.
However, it is not clear who actually fired the shots, with witnesses claiming the police fired the shots and police insisting it was the protesters.
Many of the protesters wore “Stop Farm Murders” T-shirts and carried placards that read “Remember their names” and “Enough is enough”.
Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai) chair Theo de Jager, who was also present, described Horner’s murder as senseless and cruel.
“SA’s agricultural community has never been as frustrated and disappointed with the state as it is now.
“Feelings among farmers are running high,” he said.
“For the sake of rural stability, the ANC must take its points of view and its approach to farm murders into urgent reconsideration.”
Police have promised to formalise the establishment of national and local joint safety command centres to address crime in rural areas.
This follows a meeting between the police, Agri-SA, TLU SA and AfriForum in Pretoria on Monday.
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