Racial tension is simmering in the sleepy town of Vredendal after victims of a robbery turned on their perpetrator and allegedly beat him so badly that he died later in hospital.
Trouble started when Vredendal North black residents formed a forum called “Operation Gqogqa Konke” (operation search and seize everything) after they claimed that coloured gangsters and drug addicts were targeting their homes. The group rounded up a number of the alleged robbers and assaulted at the end of last month.
What followed was a series of events, including peace talks that collapsed after the murder of 27-year-old Johndrè Gouws, who was bludgeoned by two students he was trying to rob, and died in hospital on March 2.
The town is tense with some people wanting to avenge the killing.
Gouws was walking with his friends when he allegedly tried to rob the students but was overpowered.
The two suspects, 22- and 25-year-old students, allegedly assaulted the deceased until his face was disfigured and unrecognisable. A relative said they managed to identify him by a tattoo on his leg.
He was declared brain dead and his family had to switch off the life-support machine.
The two students were arrested and appeared in court on Tuesday.
The deceased’s father, Peter April, 45, said: “I knew my son was involved in the burglaries, he was a drug addict. On the day he was beaten, he was with his friends and they were trying to rob the students and they killed him because he is coloured.
“I believe the murder was motivated by the brewing racial war.”
Community leader Mandla Jonas said the initial idea of Operation Gqogqa Konke was to get back their belongings, but it was never about race and murder.
“We felt that the gangsters were only after black people’s belongings but the operation was not racially motivated,” he said.
“We knew who the culprits were and we had been asking them to return our stuff but they didn’t. All the victims then gathered and we decided to clean up our neighbourhood and caught five suspects and beat them so they could show us where they were hiding our stolen property.”
He told the Weekend Argus they tried to fight crime in the area.
“They were taking our goods and selling them to their drug dealers,” Jonas added.
“We took a resolution that enough is enough ... we would then go out and look for these guys and once we get them we would make sure that they told us where our things were.
“We caught four members of the 28s gang, three coloureds and one African, we beat them, their friends tried to retaliate but they ran away and then on Facebook there was a call to stop us from assaulting coloured people.
Another community leader, Ettiene Matwan, explained that the situation got so intense that he decided to facilitate the peace meeting.
“I told the brown people not to worry about anything and to calm down.
“When Jonas and others said they wanted to rid the community of drugs, they were not transparent. We didn’t think it would end up with the bundu court.
“The brown and black people have made peace.”
But local councillor Sampi Tshabalala said the racial tension was not over.
“After the murder, I received voice notes which said that coloured people are not going to take this lying down and that the black people have come from the Eastern Cape with demands.
“I have explained to the people that the murder was an isolated incident and spoke to the police to keep their ears to the ground as we don’t want this to be bigger than it is.”
Police spokesperson confirmed there had been engagements with the police about the burglaries and the first one was held mid February.
“One assault common docket was opened on March 1, the other two only give witness statements in (the) docket.
“Vredendal SAPS held a meeting with the two groups from Vredendal-North at Vredendal Police Station. Representatives of both groups attended and discussed the reasons for the unstable situation in Vredendal-North. At the end of the meeting, both groups agreed that violence is not the answer to the problem,” Van Wyk said.
“Both groups agreed to stop the violence against each other and the spokespersons for both groups assured the community there would not be violence anymore.
“Currently, the situation is calm and no reports of violence were received. Vredendal SAPS are in constant contact with different community leaders to monitor the situation.”
Weekend Argus