AFP, OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Saturday
A SOUTH African judge has sentenced a black soldier to 25 years in jail for killing his white commander but warned that the country’s politicians were too quick to blame race for crimes across the colour line, it was reported on the weekend.
Lieutenant Harry Ntoagae gunned down Major Pieter van As behind his desk at the Phalaborwa military base northeast of Pretoria in July after Van As assaulted him
Defence Minister Patrick Lekota at the time blamed the killing on military commanders who were doing nothing to curb racial tension in the post-apartheid military.
But in handing down sentence Judge Johan Els said racism was not the motive for the murder and lashed out at politicians and the media for readily blaming tension between blacks and whites for crime, The Citizen newspaper reported.
“There is a grave tension between the races in our country at the moment and proper investigations should be done before making utterances causing more racial tension and hatred,” the judge said.
He said three days before the murder Van As had commended Ntoagae for good work, but later provoked his subordinate by kicking him, pulling his ear and banging his head against another soldier’s because he handed in a report late.
Ntoagae then demanded a transfer, and when Van As refused, he fetched a rifle and fired 11 shots at the commander.
Judge Els said Van As was the kind of person who would vent his frustration on anybody, regardless of their colour, and likewise Ntoagae would have shot anybody who assaulted him.
The military has in recent years been plagued by violence between black and white officers, who were integrated into a single military after the fall of apartheid.
In September 1999, a black lieutenant shot and killed nine white colleagues at the Tempe military base near the central city of Bloemfontein.
Lekota has appointed a ministerial committee to investigate racism at military bases across the country.
Its preliminary findings have indicated black officers are frequently belittled by their mainly white superiors.