Steve Hayes
2012-05-23 04:08:05 UTC
News
World news
Eugene Terre'Blanche
Eugene Terre'Blanche murder: farmworker found guilty
Chris Mahlangu, 29, is convicted of bludgeoning the white supremacist to death
at his farmhouse in South Africa
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David Smith, Cape Town
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 May 2012 18.22 BST
Community leaders react to the verdicts Link to this video
A black farmworker has been found guilty of murdering Eugene Terre'Blanche,
the white supremacist whose brutal demise threatened to inflame racial
tensions in South Africa.
Chris Mahlangu, 29, was convicted at a court in the small rural town of
Ventersdorp. His co-accused, Patrick Ndlovu, 18, was acquitted of murder, but
found guilty of housebreaking.
Terre'Blanche, co-founder of the far-right Afrikaner Resistance Movement
(AWB), who wanted to overthrow South Africa's black majority government, was
killed at his farmhouse in Ventersdorp on 3 April, 2010.
Prosecutors had accused Mahlangu and Ndlovu of breaking into the 69-year-old's
home, where they found him asleep, and bludgeoning him to death with a steel
pipe. A post-mortem report revealed he sustained 28 injuries.
Mahlangu and Ndlovu pleaded not guilty to murder, housebreaking and robbery
with aggravating circumstances. Both declined to testify.
Judge John Horn ruled on Tuesday: "After all the evidence given, I conclude
that accused number one is guilty as charged."
Horn dismissed Mahlangu's claim that he acted in self-defence and said there
was no evidence that Terre'Blanche was killed due to his political views. The
dispute had been over wages on the farm.
While Terre'Blanche was portrayed as arrogant and violent, neither of the
accused testified about this, or any claims of abuse, the judge added. "None
of these things could justify the brutal attack on the deceased."
His verdict marked the end of a two-year case that had raised fears of a
violent backlash along racial lines that would evoke apartheid demons, but
ultimately lost its sting to prosaic concerns over legal delays and a botched
police investigation.
The AWB organisation waged a bloody and futile campaign to resist the end of
white minority rule and the establishment of democracy under Nelson Mandela in
1994. Terre'Blanche, a burly fascist known for his thick white beard, piercing
blue eyes and fiery rhetoric, had become an irrelevant figure by the time of
his death.
"He was revered by some, but despised by others," Horn said during his
judgment.
His body was found on his bed with his underwear pulled down to reveal his
genitals. Initial testimony suggested that there was semen on his body, but
the substance was never analysed.
Mahlangu claimed that he acted in self-defence after Terre'Blanche had raped
him an allegation that the prosecution said was made up and was rejected by
the court. Judge Horn asked why it was only mentioned towards the end of the
trial, and only through other witnesses.
He said: "Sodomy is such a personal intrusion, I can't believe [Mahlangu]
would not have raised it immediately."
Ndlovu was 15 at the time of the killing and was tried as a minor. The trial
has been held behind closed doors to protect his identity. Last month, the
judge ruled that most evidence against the teenager was inadmissible because
police failed to follow South Africa's child protection law in handling the
case.
Terre'Blanche's family said Mahlangu should spend the rest of his life in jail
and expressed disappointment at the acquittal of Ndlovu. "He was guilty,"
relative Andre Nienaber told South Africa's Mail & Guardian. "He was part of
it. He admitted it. He should never go free."
During the trial, the defence alleged that the farmworkers had been abused by
Terre'Blanche and were trying to defend themselves. A lawyer for Ndlovu said
he had been subject to "appalling conditions not fit for human habitation
[and] child exploitation" on the farm."
Terre'Blanche had been jailed in 1997 and sentenced to six years for the
attempted murder of a black security guard and assaulting a black
petrol-station worker.
After Terre'Blanche's death, some members of the local black community called
Mahlangu a hero for his alleged role in the crime. Some Afrikaners claimed his
murder highlighted the violence faced by white farmers in South Africa, with
around 3,000 said to have been killed since 1994.
On Tuesday, protesters from both sides scuffled outside the courthouse in
Ventersdorp, about 80 miles west of Johannesburg. Scores of AWB members
wearing military fatigues set up camp with their red, white and black,
swastika-style flags planted in the ground.
Nearby, a bigger group of supporters of the two farmworkers sang
anti-apartheid songs. Police set up cordons to keep the two sides apart but
the tensions did not explode into broader violence, and the crowd showed
little reaction to the verdict.
Former AWB leader Andre Visagie said the group would be watching closely what
prison sentence Mahlangu now receives.
"We as a people want to see what message the court send out to the farm
murderers out there," he told the Mail & Guardian. "Do they spend three or
five years in jail, and then get out to murder again? If a firm message is not
sent out to the farm murderers, then the rainbow nation will remain a dream."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/22/eugene-terreblanche-murder-farmworker-guilty
World news
Eugene Terre'Blanche
Eugene Terre'Blanche murder: farmworker found guilty
Chris Mahlangu, 29, is convicted of bludgeoning the white supremacist to death
at his farmhouse in South Africa
Share
Tweet this
David Smith, Cape Town
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 May 2012 18.22 BST
Community leaders react to the verdicts Link to this video
A black farmworker has been found guilty of murdering Eugene Terre'Blanche,
the white supremacist whose brutal demise threatened to inflame racial
tensions in South Africa.
Chris Mahlangu, 29, was convicted at a court in the small rural town of
Ventersdorp. His co-accused, Patrick Ndlovu, 18, was acquitted of murder, but
found guilty of housebreaking.
Terre'Blanche, co-founder of the far-right Afrikaner Resistance Movement
(AWB), who wanted to overthrow South Africa's black majority government, was
killed at his farmhouse in Ventersdorp on 3 April, 2010.
Prosecutors had accused Mahlangu and Ndlovu of breaking into the 69-year-old's
home, where they found him asleep, and bludgeoning him to death with a steel
pipe. A post-mortem report revealed he sustained 28 injuries.
Mahlangu and Ndlovu pleaded not guilty to murder, housebreaking and robbery
with aggravating circumstances. Both declined to testify.
Judge John Horn ruled on Tuesday: "After all the evidence given, I conclude
that accused number one is guilty as charged."
Horn dismissed Mahlangu's claim that he acted in self-defence and said there
was no evidence that Terre'Blanche was killed due to his political views. The
dispute had been over wages on the farm.
While Terre'Blanche was portrayed as arrogant and violent, neither of the
accused testified about this, or any claims of abuse, the judge added. "None
of these things could justify the brutal attack on the deceased."
His verdict marked the end of a two-year case that had raised fears of a
violent backlash along racial lines that would evoke apartheid demons, but
ultimately lost its sting to prosaic concerns over legal delays and a botched
police investigation.
The AWB organisation waged a bloody and futile campaign to resist the end of
white minority rule and the establishment of democracy under Nelson Mandela in
1994. Terre'Blanche, a burly fascist known for his thick white beard, piercing
blue eyes and fiery rhetoric, had become an irrelevant figure by the time of
his death.
"He was revered by some, but despised by others," Horn said during his
judgment.
His body was found on his bed with his underwear pulled down to reveal his
genitals. Initial testimony suggested that there was semen on his body, but
the substance was never analysed.
Mahlangu claimed that he acted in self-defence after Terre'Blanche had raped
him an allegation that the prosecution said was made up and was rejected by
the court. Judge Horn asked why it was only mentioned towards the end of the
trial, and only through other witnesses.
He said: "Sodomy is such a personal intrusion, I can't believe [Mahlangu]
would not have raised it immediately."
Ndlovu was 15 at the time of the killing and was tried as a minor. The trial
has been held behind closed doors to protect his identity. Last month, the
judge ruled that most evidence against the teenager was inadmissible because
police failed to follow South Africa's child protection law in handling the
case.
Terre'Blanche's family said Mahlangu should spend the rest of his life in jail
and expressed disappointment at the acquittal of Ndlovu. "He was guilty,"
relative Andre Nienaber told South Africa's Mail & Guardian. "He was part of
it. He admitted it. He should never go free."
During the trial, the defence alleged that the farmworkers had been abused by
Terre'Blanche and were trying to defend themselves. A lawyer for Ndlovu said
he had been subject to "appalling conditions not fit for human habitation
[and] child exploitation" on the farm."
Terre'Blanche had been jailed in 1997 and sentenced to six years for the
attempted murder of a black security guard and assaulting a black
petrol-station worker.
After Terre'Blanche's death, some members of the local black community called
Mahlangu a hero for his alleged role in the crime. Some Afrikaners claimed his
murder highlighted the violence faced by white farmers in South Africa, with
around 3,000 said to have been killed since 1994.
On Tuesday, protesters from both sides scuffled outside the courthouse in
Ventersdorp, about 80 miles west of Johannesburg. Scores of AWB members
wearing military fatigues set up camp with their red, white and black,
swastika-style flags planted in the ground.
Nearby, a bigger group of supporters of the two farmworkers sang
anti-apartheid songs. Police set up cordons to keep the two sides apart but
the tensions did not explode into broader violence, and the crowd showed
little reaction to the verdict.
Former AWB leader Andre Visagie said the group would be watching closely what
prison sentence Mahlangu now receives.
"We as a people want to see what message the court send out to the farm
murderers out there," he told the Mail & Guardian. "Do they spend three or
five years in jail, and then get out to murder again? If a firm message is not
sent out to the farm murderers, then the rainbow nation will remain a dream."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/22/eugene-terreblanche-murder-farmworker-guilty
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk