Racial tensions heighten in Tuli Block
Thalefang Charles | Friday December 12, 2014 20:02
One of the residents, Shimane Makera, a 40-year-old farm labourer said he was brutally beaten, stomped on and gun-butted by one of the ‘feared’ white farmers named Stephan.
Makera narrated his recent ordeal at the hands of the farmer who left him jobless with a broken shoulder. He said that the incident happened on November 23 this year while he was on a hunt for his stray cattle. In his search, together with five friends, he said they came across Stephan.
The visibly ailing man who could barely walk straight said: “It was on a Sunday and because our farm is just opposite theirs, we had entered his farm searching for our stray cattle, I was with three of our dogs which on the way pounced on a warthog”.
The barking dogs must have alerted the farmer who quickly rushed to the scene and found the Makera group inside the farm. Surprisingly instead of explaining to the farm owner why they have entered the farm without permission, the group ran away.
“Stephan came charging at us, the others ran away, unfortunately he caught me. I guess I was slower. He caught me and beat me to a pulp,” alleged Makera.
Makera said they fled because it was common knowledge in the village that Stephan is always armed with loaded guns. He said the farmer did not even ask what they were doing in his farm, but pounced on him and beat him until he was unconscious.
“While on the run, I fell down and with no strength to run no more, I begged him and tried to explain that I was only looking for stray cattle, but he did not want to hear it. After a while, I realised I was profusely bleeding and covered in blood,” he said.
During the beating, Makera claims Stephan used racist language. Before Stephan took him to the police at Parr’s Halt, he said he shot all the three dogs dead. At the Police Station, Makera claims the officers cared less about his injuries and appeared to be on his accuser’s side.
“The police officer who was attending to us, instead asked me what I was doing in Stephan farm and I elaborately explained it. They referred the matter to Machaneng police where I was taken into custody for two days. I was not even taken to hospital despite the head injuries and bleeding,” he said.
Makera said that after his release, he went to hospital. He showed Mmegi team his medical records to support his claims.
Worse was to come. After the incident, he was fired from work. He is now jobless and recovering and waiting for the case lodged against him by the farm owner.
Another villager who also claims he is a victim of Stephan’s attacks is Modiege Montshiwa (32). He too related vicious encounters with Stephan who he said raided their home. According to Montshiwa, Stephan arrived armed following shoe tracks from the farm.
“He came to our campsite with his rifle accusing us of killing his springbok. He said our shoe tracks matched the tracks that he was following from the farm. He then started brutally beating us with the back of the rifle, swearing at us and threatening to kill us if we dare enter his farm again,” he said.
Montshiwa said Stephan later brought in the police for another search and they could not find anything.
Questioned whether they have been involved in any trespassing, stealing or poaching, both Makera and Montshiwa deny any wrongdoing. The two men said they have always been law-abiding residents of Makwate and never trouble the white farmers.
Both men also accused the police of being friends with the white farmers, alleging the officers are bribed with game meat.
“The police at Parr’s Halt will not speak against those farmers because they give them antelopes. They always bribe them with game meat,” alleged Montshiwa.
Another resident who requested to speak anonymously for fear of backlash from the white farmers said Tuli area is still in apartheid era. He made startling allegations that some of the white farmers are members of the South Africa’s ultra-right white supremacists. He alleged that there are a number of abuses that go unreported because the poor residents are dependent on farm work.
“The labour practices are non-existent in the Tuli Block. Some of the working conditions in these farms are slave-like conditions. The whites abuse us everyday, but because we survive from them, we can’t go and report because we would lose our jobs,” he said.
Makwate Kgosi Lefatho Lesenyamotse admitted that there are “number of cases but not many” involving white farmers and residents of the village. He said there are incidents where villagers illegally gain access into farms and the white farmers come and complain about trespassing. He admitted that there is a conflict between the two communities, but it was not as worse as alleged by the villagers. “There have been cases where the white farmers complained of some residents setting wire-traps to poach wildlife in the farms. But we are dealing with them on case by case basis,” said the Kgosi.
His major concern is farm land along the border, saying offering white farmers such land could encourage cross-border trafficking and smuggling. A number of private farms along the Tuli Block extend to the border. Most extend into the Limpopo River that borders Botswana and South Africa. Curiously, on the Botswana riverside, the land is private property owned mostly by white people.
According to Lesenyamotse there is widespread suspicion from the villagers that these farmers are engaged in smuggling. He said they too want access to the river.
White farmers claim innocence
The white farmers have denied allegations of abuse and racism levelled against them by Makwate residents. James O’Reilly’s, the owner of Good Hope Farm, denied allegations of ill treatment and cruelty towards the villagers. Visibly worried about the journalists’ presence at his remote farm, O’Reilly calmly said he has contributed a lot to the welfare of the villages around his farm. “We have people from the same village who have been working for us for more that 15 years. These people come into our farm claiming to fetch wood, but they know and we know what they really want,” he said in irritation. “We have a lot of cases against the same villagers that come as far as 2010 and nothing has been done, whilst some only get the bare minimum punishment,” he said and accused the police of failing to assist them.
He would not, however, talk of allegations against his farmer manager Stephan Versfeld, the man most residents that spoke to Mmegi labelled as a feared gun-toting racist. Versfeld stays at a farmhouse with his mother, wife and baby daughter. He rubbished the allegations against him, saying that the same villagers who are accusing them of maltreatment are the culprits who terrorise them. “They trespass into the farm and put their snares trying to catch animals, but they trap and kill our cattle. We have cattle that have lost legs because of these traps, they sneak into our farms and claim to be looking for their stray cattle,” he said.
“We never lock our gates, why don’t they just come through the gate and notify us that their cattle have strayed inside our farm? They can’t because they know very well that they are not telling the truth,” he said.
When asked about the alleged incident between him and Makera, Versfeld admitted arresting him but denied ever assaulting him even though he [Makera] had a medical report to support his case.
“I did not beat him up. I heard dogs barking then I saw six guys who ran in different directions when they saw that I was walking up to them,” said Versfeld.
“I managed to catch the other one whom I took to the police. I never assaulted anyone. I was with my other guys and can tell you. These guys are always trespassing in my farm. I then went to grab my riffle and shot all the three dogs down, because they were in my property chasing my game,” he said. He denied intimidating anyone nor does he a problem with any of the villagers. “I mean at one point, one of them had called me to notify me that my cattle had strayed into his kraal, I went to collect them and I gave him P100,” he said.
He showed Mmegi a logbook of incidents of stealing and poaching that he began to keep since 2012. Versfeld has dates, pictures and voice recordings of these incidents. He even has names of police officers of all his reported cases. He said the police are not doing enough to fight the problem. He said he was disappointed at the legal process, giving an example of a case involving one villager, who injured eight of his cattle with wire-traps, but got away with three months of community service.
“We lose about eight cattle a year due to these snares, and as for our game, I do not really know in numbers but it is a lot,” said Versfeld. He showed Mmegi team a pile of wire snares that they have discovered in their farm.
Versfeld alleged that there are some neighbouring farmers who appeared to be against them, pointing to a 2010 article newspaper headline alleging that Tuli Block was a state within a state. He said the article was about him, but he was never given the right of reply.
Trying to get the police’s side of the story proved difficult. Instead of answering Mmegi questions, an officer at Machaneng police station, who identified himself only as Hulela, demanded an appointment at a later date. He said he is too busy to answer quesions. By press time, his phone rang unanswered. At Makwate and Parr’s Halt, the police officers refused to speak referring queries back to Machaneng police station.