OWN CORRESPONDENt, Pietersburg | Friday
CHAOS erupted in and around the Pietersburg court where nine white rugby players appeared on charges of beating a black youth to death.
Police later fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters trying to burn down a service station owned by one of the accused, e-tv reported. It showed the protesters throwing stones, and said they targeted passing cars and whites.
Some of the players’ family members were reduced to tears as angry spectators in the public gallery in the court in the northern town of Pietersburg spat at the accused, with some shouting: “We are waiting for you.”
The gallery was packed to capacity even before the accused arrived, holding jackets over their heads to hide their faces from the cameras.
Police then closed the doors, but magistrate Rassie du Toit apparently ordered them re-opened. More people then streamed in, but no seats were available for them.
Outside, more than 1_000 protesters sang and toyi-toyed. One man held aloft a placard reading “nine Boers, nine bullets, nine settlers”.
The accused, all members of the local Noordelikes Rugby Club, had been expected to ask for bail, but were taken back to the cells, with a new hearing scheduled for Friday.
They face charges of murdering 19-year-old Tshepo Matloga, who was killed while poaching on a farm near the small northern town of Dendron last month.
Matloga was killed on the farm after he and two cousins Alex Tlokwane, 17, and Melford Tlokwane, 21, were caught poaching rabbits with dogs on March 25, police said.
His body was dumped it in a crocodile-infested dam almost 200km away. Police divers later found the body weighted down with an old metal gate.
A post mortem examination on Tuesday determined Matloga was beaten to death. He had a fractured skull and broken ribs.
Alex Tlokwane was shot in the leg, but managed to escape, while Melford got away uninjured.
Police found the bodies of five dogs near the place Motloga’s corpse was first discovered. – AFP
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