A court heard on Tuesday how the two workers accused of murdering Eugene Terre’Blanche had pulled down the AWB leader’s pants and “exposed his private parts” after the attack.
The accused, Chris Mahlangu (28) and a 15-year-old minor, who cannot be named, were officially charged with murder, housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances, crimen injuria and attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances in the Ventersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) advocate George Baloyi, explaining the crimen injuria charge, said “[After the murder] … they pulled down his [Terre’Blanche’s] pants to his knees and exposed his private parts.”
The case was postponed to April 14. The two had not yet pleaded to the charges.
‘Relief’
The killing has polarised South Africa.
The Young Communist League’s North West branch said on Tuesday that the death of Terre’Blanche was a “sigh of relief” to those this “heartless man” exploited and terrorised
“We are calling on the public, including the media and some political leaders and commentators, not to elevate this case to a status where it does not belong,” YCL North West provincial secretary Mike Mokhutshane said in a statement.
He said it was not a political case, but a “normal murder case”.
“We reject in all forms, statements attributing the death … to the struggle song sung by [ANC Youth League president] comrade Julius Malema in all his platforms.”
Malema has come under increasing fire recently for singing a song containing the words “shoot the boer” at public events.
The “real issues” that caused Terre’Blanche’s murder were exploitation, child labour and his “tremendous abuse and terrorism” of farm people.
“This sudden brouhaha on the death of Terre’Blanche confirms our long-held view that the life of a white person is more important than that of a black person in this country,” said Mokhutshane.
“This is not a racial statement, but an indication of reality because many black people have been murdered mistaken with baboons and animals by white people and there have never been any noise, except from [the Congress of South African Trade Unions] on such killings.”
The YCL North West’s concern was that his murder accused would not receive a fair trial because of the case’s quasi-political status.
“We will make a representation to government, Cosatu and its affiliated union of [the Food and Allied Workers’ Union], to provide legal assistance to these young people in order for them to receive a fair and just trial,” said Mokhutshane.
“We will equally engage North West government on the availability of the police on a 24-hour basis in the surrounding areas of Ventersdorp to ensure maximum security for community members.”
The YCL said it knew what the AWB was capable of doing.
“They have done it before and there is absolutely nothing that will prevent them from repeating what they did pre-1994, of killing our people in numbers in the roadblocks [at midnight].”
Senseless
Meanwhile, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa on Tuesday described Terre’Blanche’s killing as “senseless”.
The church said the murder could have been avoided and called on police and courts to leave no stone unturned in the investigation and prosecution.
The church said should the allegations be true that Terre’Blanche’s murder was linked to labour matters, government should “sensitively use this unfortunate occurrence as an opportunity to raise the level of national dialogue in order to come to terms with the trauma of ongoing poverty and inequality”.
It sent condolences to Terre’Blanche’s family and friends. – Sapa