Cape Town - Following Monday’s court case in Worcester, Flippie Engelbrecht’s self-styled spokeswoman Carina Papenfus introduced a group of farmworkers who claimed they had once been assaulted in the Robertson farmlands.
The allegations were made during a press conference in the Sahara House in Cape Town.
Papenfus, the Freedom Trust secretary and struck-off lawyer who has been championing Engelbrecht’s cause, stood at the shoulders of farmworkers Martin Zana, Willem September and Koos Minnaar as they recounted alleged beatings which went as far back as 1993.
When questioned on why they were only coming forward now, the farm workers said it was a chance to break the silence and stop a pattern of repeated beatings.
Throughout, Papenfus reiterated that she had not sought out the farmworkers herself.
“They made contact with me.”
She alleged that many of the witnesses involved in Engelbrecht’s trial had been approached and even paid to keep quiet.
But while police spokesman Captain FC Van Wyk confirmed police were investigating a case of witness intimidation, it was not known who was behind it.
Last week, Papenfus told the Cape Argus that Engelbrecht’s parents had been bribed to drop the charges against Wilhelm Treurnicht, who has been charged with allegedly assaulting the amputee in 2008.
Cape Argus