Staff Reporter
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has threatened to appeal a decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to set aside the murder convictions against two men who were jailed for killing a teenage boy they accused of stealing sunflowers in a field in Coligny, North West, about two years ago.
Farm workers Pieter Doorewaard and Philip Schutte were found guilty by the North West High Court of the murder of 15-year-old Mathlomola Jonas Mosweu in October 2018.
In addition, they were convicted of kidnapping, intimidation, theft and pointing a firearm.
Doorewaard was sentenced to 23 years in prison while Schutte got 18 years for killing Mosweu in 2017.
A seemingly disappointed Malema wrote on his Twitter account on Friday evening that they will take the matter to the Constitutional Court if the state does not appeal the SCA ruling.
“If the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) is not appealing to the @ConCourtSA, we will appeal it in the best interest of our people,” the EFF leader tweeted.
He did not elaborate on his planned action.
In a split decision, the SCA ruled that the evidence given by the state’s only witness, Sibongile Pakisi, was tainted by material discrepancies and that there was nothing to corroborate his testimony.
It said the appellants’ version of events was more probable compared to that of Pakisi.
According to the court, the state had the onus to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, but failed to do so.
Mosweu met his death after he and a partner were caught stealing sunflower heads on the farm belonging to the employer of the appellants.
The state’s case rested entirely on the evidence of Pakisi, who testified that he had observed the deceased being assaulted and manhandled by the appellants, before being thrown out a moving bakkie driven by Doorewaard.
Pakisi further testified that Schutte approached him to ask what he had seen.
And when he said “nothing”, he was allegedly assaulted repeatedly and forced to drink strong liquor, before being threatened at gunpoint, instructed to wade into a dirty dam and later to run while shots were fired next to his feet.
He claimed after feeling dizzy and vomiting, he was told to consume what he had regurgitated and put at the back of a bakkie with instructions to keep his head down while the appellants drove to the clinic.
Pakisi testified that he was then struck by something on the back of his head and lost consciousness.
But according to the appellants, after catching Mosweu, who tried to run away, they arrested him for theft and told him to climb onto the back of the bakkie.
They said the deceased first sat on the side frame of the loading bin, but was told to move to the middle and sit with his back to the driver’s compartment, which he did.
They then decided to take Mosweu to the local police station in order to open a case of theft against him, but they claim after driving around a bend, they realised he was no longer on the bakkie and assumed he had jumped off and made a u-turn.
They claimed they found the boy lying on the gravel road, injured but still alive.