The devil, a rotten apple, a monster, a conman who preyed on vulnerable women and a “hated man” who instilled fear in the lives of others.
These are all words used to describe Johan Kotze, the Modimolle man arrested this week for a brutal attack on his estranged wife, Ina Bonnette, and the murder of his 19-year-old stepson, Conrad Bonnette, who was buried yesterday.
Kotze was adopted by his stepfather as a child, then disowned by the man two months before his death apparently because of violent, intimidating behaviour.
The Tribune was unable to find a person this week who was able to say something good about Kotze.
The only person to defend the man dubbed the Modimolle Monster was his 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.
The girl, who attends school in Bloemfontein, was quoted in the Afrikaans daily, Beeld, this week as telling a family friend: “He’s still my hero, no matter what he has done.”
The girl apparently regularly visited her father in Modimolle.
Kotze, 50, was arrested at the home of a friend in the Limpopo town on Wednesday, eight days after a manhunt started.
He had lived in his Toyota Fortuner in the veld just outside town since allegedly mutilating his estranged wife, ordering her rape by three of his workers and shooting his stepson three times as the young man pleaded with the “oom” for his life.
He appeared in the Modimolle Magistrate’s Court on Friday morning with a 40-year-old man as members of the ANC Women’s League sang freedom songs outside and members of the local community bayed for his blood.
The ANCWL wanted the three workers who allegedly raped the woman at Kotze’s behest to be treated as victims following reports that he had ordered them at gunpoint to commit the crime.
Members of the local farmers’ watch wanted him handed over to them so they could deal with the man they described as the devil incarnate.
The men face 17 charges, including murder, conspiracy to rape, rape, sexual assault, kidnap and common assault.
Shortly after Friday’s court appearance, when the case was postponed to February 10, Modimolle task team members arrested a 34-year-old man in Makapanstad, Hammanskraal. A fourth suspect, aged 30, was arrested in Lefahleng, Hammanskraal, at 4.30am yesterday.
“He and the man arrested on Friday will appear in court (tomorrow),” said Limpopo police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.
Kotze told the police after his arrest that he just wanted to hurt Ina Bonnette, who had left him barely four months after their October 2010 wedding, “a little bit”.
During the torture, allegedly by a gun-wielding Kotze ahead of the rape, Bonnette’s nipples were severed, screwdrivers were hammered into her breasts and she was mutilated with fondue forks, a pair of pliers, a chainsaw and other equipment.
She was back home following treatment, which included plastic surgery, at a Gauteng hospital for her injuries.
“She is in a lot of pain. Spiritually, psychologically, my friend has been destroyed. I don’t think she will ever recover from this ordeal,” said her close friend, Elize Coetzer.
Bonnette had lain only metres from where her son, Conrad, allegedly pleaded with Kotze for his life after having been lured to the house under false pretences.
A friend, who had accompanied Conrad, went to a local takeaway for food and drinks. It was then that Kotze allegedly shot Conrad Bonnette in the leg, chest and head as his mother heard his pleas.
Conrad’s body and his mutilated mother were found by the friend when he returned.
“The young man is broken, completely broken, after coming across that,” said Coetzer.
The woman, who had photographed the couple’s wedding, said Bonnette had had a “panic attack” before the ceremony, but had gone ahead with the marriage “despite doubts”.
Conrad was buried with the assistance of donations after a fund was set up for the family by Bonnette’s employer.
Kotze was a sheriff in Prieska in the Northern Cape for more than a decade before moving to Bloemfontein with his nursing sister wife to farm livestock.
Bully
Prieska residents said he had arrived in the town from Namibia when his stepfather bought a number of farms. Kotze had joined the sheriff’s office, but quickly earned a reputation as a “rude bully” who “manipulated people”.
The community will launch a petition this week to ask the police and National Prosecuting Authority to reopen a murder case against Kotze, who was acquitted of murdering Bet Botha, 64, in 1993.
A resident and Botha’s family said Kotze had gone to the house looking for Bet’s brother. But he ran away, so Kotze apparently argued with the elderly woman. As she walked to the outside toilet, Kotze allegedly shot her in the stomach. She died in a Kimberley hospital.
“What were the reasons for the acquittal? We were never told. We are unhappy and want that case reopened,” said a concerned resident.
“He was a terrible person. He worked mostly among people who were suffering financially, particularly in the coloured and black communities. He would arrive in his bakkie, some days dressed in khaki, with a gun strapped to his hip, with which he taunted people as he handed over summonses or claimed their last possessions,” said local businessman Sanee Williams.
“He did not have any fear. People who knew him feared him. What gave him the right to carry a gun and threaten people with it when he was only supposed to hand over summonses?
“When he left town around 2000, it was as if something lifted off the shoulders of the people in the townships.”
Local residents say they were happy when they heard Kotze’s first wife – “a lovely woman” and “popular nursing sister” – had left him.
They stood by the wife and the couple’s daughter when Kotze put the farm inherited from his stepfather up for sale.
“He only inherited a pick, shovel and spade. The old man said he (Kotze) had already carried everything else away. It is written in his will,” said the resident.
In Bloemfontein Kotze is appealing against two judgments – one for R260 000 and the other for more than R100 000. Another two cases for outstanding loans of more than R1.2 million are pending.
Jan Maree, legal representative for the four women who are suing Kotze for the money, said none were his lovers. All were either widows or divorcees with money. He allegedly conned each, disappearing with the money after three or four months.
Another Bloemfontein resident described him as a “rotten apple”, saying he would tell his victims he was a rich cattle farmer. If they invested in his feedlot, he could show them a 60 percent return in months.
“He would tell people these wonderful stories. He has the ability to win your confidence, then con you into lending him money and disappearing with it,” said the resident.
“The women he destroyed in our city, the woman whose life he has destroyed now and the woman who committed suicide last year – that is proof of how he intimidated them. He probably attacked his latest victim because she no longer wanted to dip her hand into her purse.”
Sarita Venter of Bloemfontein committed suicide in November after winning two civil claims against Kotze. She had tried to warn his estranged wife about the type of man he was, said her sons.
In Modimolle, a woman close to the family said: “We can all breathe easier now that Johan is in custody. He threatened all of us and even threatened to kill Conrad’s sister. Have you seen his eyes? He has snake eyes. They are dead. But, then again, the devil looks after his children.”