Tangeni Amupadhi
A high court decision to extend the bail of three Afrikaner youths found guilty last week of murdering and assaulting black people has increased racial tension in the divided Upington community.
Blacks in the town have criticised the bail extension as further proof of the judiciary’s lenience towards whites. The court heard the youths went on “moer uitstappies [assault excursions]”, looking for black victims.
Last week Danie Rossouw (20), one of the seven accused, was found guilty of murder and four of his companions were convicted on charges of culpable homicide. Two others have been acquitted of the attack which shocked this Northern Cape town 18 months ago.
After a drinking session at a local nightclub, Rossouw went to fetch six friends – Corn Rupping (22), Pieter Botha (19), Albert Radford (19), Abrie Jordaan (19), Phillip Venter (19) and Frederik Myburgh (19) – for the excursion on November 16 1996.
They went in search of “hotnots om te donder [to beat up]”. Radford said he had heard about assaults on blacks and went along to see how it was done.
They drove out of town in a bakkie and a car, and came across farmworkers Bushi Tieties and Piet Olyn (43) walking along the road. The youths stopped and kicked the men, but they managed to run away and disappeared into the darkness. The youths drove on and came across Gaebalae Sekamoeng (18). Using baseball bats, they delivered several blows to his body and left him for dead. His corpse was found the next day.
Rupping and Rossouw remain in custody. The R5 000 bail granted to Botha, Radford and Jordaan was doubled and they will be sentenced on October 13. Venter and Myburgh were acquitted because of a lack of evidence against them.
For people like the Reverend Aubrey Beukes, of Upington’s Uniting Reformed Church, the extension of bail confirms the black community’s belief that the judiciary is biased towards whites. “What annoys me is that the life of a black is still regarded as cheap,” he says.
The African National Congress in the Northern Province has written to presiding Judge AJ du Plessis to complain about the bail, and some residents have expressed fears that the harshest sentence the youths will face is a fine.
Rupping and Rossouw are to face similar moer uitstappie murder charges for the killing of Sipho Gideon Khuzwayo (53) in 1996.
“It was an out and out racial case. It had a hell of an impact on Upington,” says Gemsbok newspaper editor Douglas Jones.
“For reconciliation to take place, the community needs to know each other’s motives. These youths just did it for fun – killing coloured people and thinking they could get away with it,” says Jones.