Brits - A North West farmer and his son, accused of killing another farmer, appeared briefly in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Schalk Myburgh and his son Schalk Myburgh allegedly killed Muraga Mavula in Sandrift, outside Brits, in December.
The father and son allegedly beat Mavula to death in front of his 12-year-old son. He was allegedly attacked when he was collecting his dead goat near a water canal in the area. They allegedly drove over him with a bakkie after beating him to a pulp.
The case against the pair was postponed to April 4 and their bail of R500 each was extended.
Mavula’s daughter, Mukondi Mavula, said: “My father went to collect his goat, that place near the canal is a public area. We do not know why he was killed.”
She said the family was deeply concerned that the accused had been granted bail.
“I do not understand why they were released on R500 bail. How will the magistrate feel if it was his father killed and the accused are released on a mere R500 bail? Does this mean my father’s life was worth R500? People arrested for petty crime are released on R500 bail and now those accused of murder are released on R500 bail,” complained Mavula.
Outside the court, irate community members and farmers protested. They held up placards, one which read: “Black life R500”, and another “ANC says R500 bail for such murder is an insult to democracy. Away with black farm killing, away.”
he chairperson of the African farmers Association of South Africa (Afasa), Portia Duba, claimed Mavula was killed in a “racially-motivated attack” near his farm.
“It is [for] this reason that we are gathered here as black farmers, we are showing solidarity over an issue we have battled all our lives which is racism.”
Duba said African farmers were concerned that each time a white farmer was killed, there was an outcry, but when an black farmer was killed there was “deafening silence” from organisations and rights groups that claim to champion farmers’ rights.
African News Agency)
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