 Nov 2005 - This map of the Johannesburg region shows the number of armed attacks against residents of agricultural holdings around greater-Johannesburg thus far this year. In the "Cradle-of-Mankind" valley around Kromdraai alone, 89 farm attacks and 140+ break-ins have occurred this year, which were never reported to the news media. An average of 50,000 such violent deaths a year are officially recorded in South Africa - but its government severely censors crime statistics -- and the actual death rate could be twice the annual 50,000 recorded average. SA forensic expert Professor Mohammed Dade found in 2003 that half of all the officially-recorded "non-violent" deaths he examined, turned out to be murder victims. The most-at-risk-of-murder group in the entire world are South African land owners of all races, who are being slaughtered, often after hours of cruel torture, at the rate of 313 per 100,000 - four times the national average for other minorities and 100% more than the death rate in the warzone of Iraq. South Africa's citizens are living in a secret, undeclared war - especially its privately-owned agricultural sector is being terrorised out of existence. |
Secret civil war raging in SA Nov 2005 - This map of the Johannesburg region shows the number of armed attacks against residents of agricultural holdings around greater-Johannesburg thus far this year. In the "Cradle-of-Mankind" valley around Kromdraai alone, 89 farm attacks and 140+ breakins have occurred this year, but which were never reported to the news media. An average of 50,000 such violent deaths a year are officially recorded in South Africa - but its government severely censors crime statistics -- and the actual death rate could be twice the annual 50,000 recorded average. SA forensic expert Professor Mohammed Dade found in 2003 that half of all the officially-recorded "non-violent" deaths he examined, turned out to be murder victims.
The most-at-risk-of-murder group in the entire world are South African land owners of all races, who are being slaughtered, often after hours of cruel torture, at the rate of 313 per 100,000 - four times the national average for other minorities and 100% more than the death rate in the warzone of Iraq.
South Africa's citizens are living in a secret, undeclared war - especially its privately-owned agricultural sector is being terrorised out of existence
Date : 20 November 2005
Producer : Angus Begg
Presenter : John Webb
Researcher : Bernadette Cook, Amalia Christoforou
Genre : Crime
Forty-five minutes outside Johannesburg, at the epicentre of the Cradle of Humankind, is the development of one of the most ambitious tourism projects this country has yet seen. Government is spending R347-million on the impressive new tourist development at the Sterkfontein Caves, to bed in a couple of weeks by President Mbeki. But for many residents of the area, hanging over the construction is a pall of shocking violence.
Peter Binggeli (farm attack survivor): “They should actually rename it the ‘Graveyard for Humankind’ because the levels of crime in this area and in the country as a whole are out of hand and totally unacceptable”.
Corina de Jong (widow): “And if people outside see these things happen where we stay in the Cradle of Humankind, tourism wouldn’t go anywhere.”
Trevor Roberts (co-owner Conserv Security): “But it is perturbing to think that here government has spent a lot of money in promoting this area and building wonderful centres, and yet the crime is totally out of hand.”
John Webb (Carte Blanche presenter): “The Cradle of Humankind is one of the most significant World Heritage sites. But according to a local security company there have been a total of 89 attacks in the area so far this year, resulting in 16 deaths.”
Trevor Roberts is co-owner of local security company, Conserv, the only such outfit in the Kromdraai area. He analyses attacks and identifies crime trends, assisting the community in organising their own defence. He works with both black and white communities and informants in the field.
Trevor: “This is statistics from the beginning of this year until now. All in all we have had 89 farm attacks, about 156 break-ins in this area. So the community is definitely under siege.”
Just before the start of spring, at around eight in the evening, 37-year-old Herman De Jong was locking up his father’s borehole business, on the extension of Beyers Naude Drive.
John: “From what you were able to gather from Herman, he was locking this gate at the time?”
Carina: “Yes. There [was] four guys that [was] here. He actually struck one of them with a lamp that he had in his hand and, ja, there was actually a couple of shots that went off. I actually heard it at home and a few seconds later he was just banging on the door.”
John: “So this is where, despite being shot, Herman was able to run back to?”
Carina [very emotional]: “Yes.”
John: “What happened then?”
Carina: “He actually passed out outside and I had to try and get the security gate I had to do some CPR on him as well because he had no heart beat, and the next morning he died.”
On the 3rd of November 71-year-old Simon Graaf was gunned down on his Magaliesberg smallholding. His son says Graaf was well-loved by the broader community.
Nick Graaf (son of deceased): “People are stunned, people are shocked… it actually leaves a vacuum. Everybody I have spoken to in the community or around the community was just so shocked that somebody who was always laughing, who was always smiling, who always had a comment to make about something or the other, or was always fighting for something, is no longer a member of the community.”
John: “At one o’clock on Tuesday 18 October Johannes Mashinini and Martha Molefe were attacked by three men in their home on a farm in Koorstefontein. It is a smallholding just outside the town Magaliesberg, owned by Nick and Rita du Toit, on which they grow a little spinach and own a few cows. Johannes says it was the beginning of an afternoon of violence.”
Johannes Mashinini (farm attack survivor): “Three youngsters were already in the house. Then one grabbed me by the neck. He pushed me into the house. Then the other two came. One took out a gun and said: ‘Keep quiet. Don’t talk’. So I kept quiet. They cut my pants off and blindfolded us and tied our hands. Then they brought us here.”
When owner Rita du Toit arrived home, she too was beaten. All three were forced into the house…
Rita du Toit (farm attack survivor): “They kicked and hit us and hit me on the head with a shotgun. They poured diesel on us and told us they would burn us if I didn’t give them
R3 000.”
John: “Rita, you must have been absolutely terrified?”
Rita: “Mm.”
John [to Johannes]: “Do you know these people?”
Johannes: “Yes, I know where they live. I recognised their voices. I didn’t see them, because they had blindfolded us. But now I know where they live.”
While three of Johannes’ four attackers have since been apprehended, the other victims say some or all of their attackers are still at large in the area. At Sterkfontein Caves we put it to West Rand Police Commissioner Rex Machabi that crime is out of control.
Commissioner Rex Machabi (SAPS West Rand): “In general there is no increase. Which increase are you referring to?”
John: “There were eight incidents, according to our information, in 2003 - this year there have been 89.”
Rex: “I cannot comment on information that you have not collected from us. You said you collected the information from security companies.”
Trevor: “There is a definite increase of almost a hundred percent from year to year. The red [markers on map] in this particular area closer to the Muldersdrift area, which falls in the Magalie City area… and as we move out further into the rural areas towards Magaliesberg the farm attacks lessen.”
It would’ve been useful to test Conserv’s figures with those of the police, but policy prevents them from releasing stats on farm attacks. A police spokesperson says general statistics are released only once a year.
John: “For 30 years the Binggeli family have owned this plot of land in the Kromdraai region in the middle of the Cradle of Humankind. Nine years ago, when Peter Binggeli retired, the family moved here from Benoni and built their home. They thought that this World Heritage site would be a place of peace.”
On the 4th June this year, just after midnight, 25-year-old Lillian Binggeli arrived home in Kromdraai. After a late night coffee with her parents, Lillian’s father walked her out to her cottage.
Lillian Binggeli: “I’d already taken a few steps out when three men came running towards us. Next I heard was three shots. I saw my dad fall in front of me on his knees. Another person came around the corner with a pole and proceeded to hit him over the head or the back.”
Dragged around the house by the attackers in their search for valuables, Lillian was then tied up in the kitchen. Thinking her father was dead, she prayed her mother had escaped.
Annamarie Bingelli (farm attack survivor): “I started to scream and suddenly thought: this was not going to get me anywhere, they are probably dead. So I decided I must run as fast as I can and get the hell out of here.”
In June the Clark family was attacked twice in two weeks at their home in Lammermoor Estate. In the first attack, teenaged Matthew was shot in the neck.
Robyn Clark (farm attack survivor): “The bullet went in this side of the neck, straight through, and came out the other side. It is a total miracle that he survived this.”
Two weeks later gunmen attacked them again, shooting and smashing their way into the house. The family packed up and left that night.
A common theme in most of the attacks documented is the victims’ isolation, which makes neighbour relations all the more important.
Lillian: “There must’ve been 50 to 100 people that came out that night. Guys left their wives and kids at home at two o’clock in the morning to come out and assist.”
In the same vein, sharing local information is vital in such outlying areas.
John: “Apparently, you provided information to the police months before the Binggeli attacks.”
Trevor: “We got information from informants on the ground that an attack would be imminent. We gave the police names of who would attack and where they stayed, and six months later the Bingellis were attacked. Yes.”
The disillusioned victims, meanwhile, allege that the police have lost statements and vital evidence:
Lillian: “It took them five months to eventually admit that they never took fingerprints in the house. I inquired about fingerprints in the car and I was told that the wet grass had rubbed it off.”
Carina: “The Department of Serious Crime - they have never been in contact with us again. We have had no feedback whatsoever.”
Having already seen his son shot through the neck, Michael Clark says that the police then lost his statement. What may seem like forgetfulness to some, to Commissioner Machabi is apparently a matter of procedure.
Rex: “The points of view of the clients sometimes [differs] from the points of view of the police in terms of how we collect evidence or information.”
John [to Michael Clark]: “So in your mind there is no question that you gave a statement?”
Michael Clark (farm attack survivor): “The police captain came into my house and I gave a statement in my house’.”
Rex: “That was taken as if there was a writing of statements. If I may ask, was there any statement which he signed? … I don’t think so.”
John: “Did you sign it?”
Michael: “I signed it that same night.”
Which, without mincing words, suggests Matshabi doesn’t believe Clarke. Nevertheless, he still maintains that the safety of residents and tourists in the greater Cradle of Humankind - home to this fantastic new tourist development - is assured. Sector policing, he says, is key to the area’s safety:
Rex: “We also have a sector manager with a cell phone for any other thing that you are not necessarily in danger, but you still want to communicate with the police. The sector manager is available on a daily basis; 24 hours a day he can be contacted. We guarantee from the West Rand that when you call us we’ll be there.”
John [to Rita]: “Are you concerned about your safety now?”
Rita: “Yes. We’ll have to see if we’re going to stay.”
source: http://www.carteblanche.co.za/Display/Display.asp?Id=2958
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