Racial tensions heighten in Tuli Block :: Mmegi Online

Residents of Makwate in Mahalapye East constituency have accused white farmers in Tuli Block of apartheid era racism, physical assaults and intimidation. Scared villagers tell horror stories of attacks by uncontrollable gun-toting white farmers. However, the farmers dismiss the accusations as hogwash, and accuse villagers of trespassing in their private property, stealing and poaching inside the farms. The police are caught in the middle with the warring sides accusing the officers of taking sides. Some of the residents claim apartheid is alive and well in the Tuli area.

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.

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