Farmer hacked to death on the same day as #BlackMonday protests

On the same day as thousands of South Africans took to the country’s roads to protest farm murders under the banner #BlackMonday, another murder took place.

Vryheid Herald reported that 70-year old Bokkie Potgieter was brutally murdered on his farm in  Gluckstad just outside Vryheid.

According to reports, a man entered the property and attempted to steal Potgieter’s bakkie. A struggle followed and the farmer was hacked to death with a panga. According to witnesses, the victim was “loaded into the bakkie” while the criminal attempted to drive off. The alleged attacker crashed the bakkie a few hundred meters down the road.

Vryheid Herald reports:

By then, members of the community, who were drawn by the commotion, had noticed Mr Potgieter’s feet hanging out of the window and approached the vehicle to investigate.

The community members responded by beating the attacker. By the time the police and paramedics arrived, both the attacker and Potgieter had died.

Vryheid Herald further reports:

Last year, thousands of black men and women in the community marched to the police station, following the murders of well-loved farmers Billy van Rooyen and Ronnie Lombard, to show that the killing of farmers affects everybody negatively, regardless of race. They demanded that the police do what was necessary to fight crime in the area.

The #BlackMonday protests has been marred by accusations of racism, with several apartheid-era flags spotted at a number of marches. One woman even claimed that she “felt protected” under the old apartheid flag. Afriforum have distanced themselves from protesters carrying these flags.

People have also pointed out the disconnect and seeming lack of care for the near 300 people murdered in the township of Nyanga in the previous financial year – far higher than the number of farm murders that have taken place.