Coligny - The situation was calm at Coligny in the North West on Monday, ahead of the appearance of two men accused of killing a teenage boy.
Only a few people protested outside the Coligny Magistrate’s Court, while the number of police deployed was also less than it used to be in April and May when the two suspects first appeared.’
Earlier this year Coligny was the scene of violent protests after the incident which saw 16-year-old Matlhomola Jonas Mosweu killed.
Pieter Doorewaard, 26, and Phillip Schutte, 34, are facing charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the death of Mosweu, as well as for shooting at an eyewitness.
The two bowed their heads as they wait the court to start on Monday morning.
“Hold your head up,” said Matlhomola’s father Sakkie Dingake, seated behind the two accused.
The two suspects claimed they caught Mosweu stealing sunflower from their employer’s sunflower plantation near his home at Scotland informal settlement, and that they put him at the back of a van intending to take him to the police. However, according to them, he jumped out of the moving van and injured his neck.
But an eyewitness told the police Mosweu was thrown out of a moving van. He died on his way to hospital on April 20.
His death triggered violent community protests that left a trail of destruction in the small maize growing town and divided the community. At least six houses and three trucks were set alight and several shops looted and damaged.
The two accused have been granted R5 000 bail each.