Staff reporter and Sapa
Fugitive Johnny Jooste, who allegedly killed seven relatives including his two young sons on a Ceres farm, was arrested by police on Monday morning.
He had used a two-way radio twice on Sunday to make contact during his flight into the mountains of the Kouebokkeveld.
And he threatened to kill again before he would kill himself.
At first light on Monday police resumed their hunt for the 35-year-old former farmworker, who allegedly shot dead his wife, sons and four other relatives.
He was working as a security guard in Cape Town after he was dismissed from the farm.
After the shootings on Ou Muur farm outside Prince Alfred Hamlet, near Ceres, on Sunday, Jooste fled into the mountains, pursued by police and soldiers. The search was called off after dark, but resumed at first light on Monday by police using helicopters and sniffer dogs. Roadblocks were also set up.
Jooste took a two-way radio with him into the mountains and spoke to farm owner Louise Milne twice, first to ask for a cellphone to contact his mother in Calvinia and then to tell him that he could see his pursuers following him on foot. That was at 4pm on Sunday, and there has been no contact with him since.
The dead were Jooste's two sons Blake, six, and Sanyay, three, his wife Elmien, her three sisters Sophia Swarts, Jannetta Jacobs and Cornelia Visagie, and Swarts's husband Barend, a pastor.
Jooste's 13-year-old daughter Ruanne survived the massacre and was later described by farm workers as "deeply traumatised".
"The girl is very lucky to be alive, thanks to God," said one farm employee.
He said the girl was shaking like a leaf and she could not say a word. Tears were rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.
When reporters visited Ou Muur on Sunday, blood was spattered around the farmhouse and farmyard.
Relatives said the drama began when Jooste started arguing with his wife at about 7am on Sunday.
She was shot twice in the head. More shots were fired, hitting the others.
Another farmworker, William Prince, who was about 50m from the house, said Jooste shouted he had two bullets left, one for his nephew Wynand and one for himself.
But Wynand van der Kolf, 21, had fled after the first shot was fired.
Workers said Jooste had been fired from the farm about six months earlier, after he had pointed a gun at Wynand.
Prince said Jooste was "trigger-happy" and liked to point his gun at people. He said Mrs Jooste had reported her husband to farmer Louis Milne, who fired him.
Another worker said Jooste liked to wear army camouflage and enjoyed talking about guns he had used in the defence force.
Milne said he thought Jooste was angry because he believed his family and in-laws were trying to destroy his marriage.
He said Mrs Jooste left the farm about two or three months after being fired. Then Mr Jooste, his wife and three children had visited the farm on Sunday.
When reporters left the farm at about midnight, a large contingent of police and soldiers were moving onto the farm to boost the search party.
Provincial Community Safety Minister Mark Wiley and the Boland area police commissioner, Ganief Daniels, arrived at the farm late on Sunday night.
Wiley said more soldiers and helicopters would be deployed on Monday to help hunt down the gunman.