Cape Town - A senior traffic officer who posted messages on Facebook apparently calling for violence against farmers has been suspended, the Witzenberg municipality has confirmed.
Witzenberg municipal manager David Nasson said on Monday that the officer had been suspended on full pay pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.
“We are in the process of appointing a chairperson to oversee the disciplinary process,” Nasson said. “Once the committee has done its work, a report will be submitted with recommendations.” The senior officer, who works in Ceres, commented on a Facebook thread, in Afrikaans, that “we must again pick up our AK47s here in the f*****g Western Cape. I am sick of farmers and the DA”.
The posts continued by stating that the DA wanted to make the Western Cape a farmers-only province. The comments came as tensions rose in the area before the farmworkers’ strike resumed last week.
A legal adviser acting on behalf of the officer said the messages’ true meaning had been misunderstood as the officer was reacting to the alleged slaying of a farmworker’s dog by a farmer.
Cape Argus