Third farmer granted R5,000 bail after a body found in the back of a bakkie outside Brits

A third farmer has been arrested over the discovery of a body on the back of a bakkie. File Picture: Molaole Montsho

A third farmer has been arrested over the discovery of a body on the back of a bakkie. File Picture: Molaole Montsho

Published Sep 21, 2023

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A third farmer in the murder case in which a body of a man was found at the back of a bakkie in Kameeldrift outside Brits was released on bail.

Gert van der Westhuizen, 39, was granted R5,000 bail in the Brits Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

North West police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Funani said the case against him was postponed to September 26.

He would appear alongside Louis Coetzee, 47, and Jaco Kemp, 45, who would bring their formal bail application in court.

Assen police arrested Coetzee and Kemp on September 17, in Kameeldrift along the R511 road outside Brits.

The farmers are charged with the murder of Dumisani Phakathi, 45.

Funani said the police were conducting routine patrols at about 2am when they saw a suspicious charcoal Nissan NP 200 bakkie and made a U-turn to chase the vehicle.

They managed to pull the vehicle over and eventually conducted a search.

They discovered the lifeless body of a 45-year-old man covered with plastic bags at the back of the vehicle.

The two men tried to run away but were arrested.

"Reports suggest that the suspects allegedly assaulted the man who was in their farm to fetch water," she said.

Van der Westhuizen handed himself in to the police in Brits on Tuesday. He appeared in court on Wednesday and was released on bail.

In 2017, Tebogo Ndlovu, 24, of Majakaneng, south of Brits, went missing without a trace.

He was last seen running away from a farm in Mooinooi.

Ndlovu and two of his friends reportedly went to the farm to scavenge for scrap metal but the farmer's son, Matthew Benson saw them.

He chased them and allegedly fired shots at Ndlovu, and while the other two escaped unharmed, Ndlovu was never found.

Benson was arrested for murder and the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria acquitted him due to a lack of evidence.

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