Rustenburg - Rights group AfriForum said on Friday it had started the process to appeal the conviction of Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte for killing teenager Matlhomola Mosweu in Coligny.
"The application for a permission to appeal has been filed, the specific judge has to now give a date for that. The application is in already but, we (are) still waiting for a date," AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said.
North West high court judge Ronnie Hendricks sentenced Doorewaard, 28, and 35-year-old Schutte to an effective 18 and 23 years in jail respectively for killing of Mosweu, aged 16.
The men were further sentenced to three years for kidnapping, two years for intimidation, one year for theft and two years for the pointing of a firearm, although these sentences will run concurrently.
The pair pushed Mosweu out of a moving van in April 2017 after they found him stealing sunflower heads worth R80 from their employer's field at Rietvlei farm near the Scotland informal settlement in Coligny.
During sentencing, Afriforum indicated that veteran legal eagle Barry Roux would lead the appeal process.