News24 reports that the man who allegedly shot and killed tractor driver Aron Mutavhatsindi was granted bail of R10,000 in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Magistrate Abdul Khan said the court was satisfied that Petrus Durant, who reportedly owns a security company, would stand trial. Khan also told the court that the incident was not a racist act, but a criminal act. He stated: “Racism is a cancer that should be removed. From the evidence that the court has, it was not an act of racism, but an act of crime. I cannot find that the accused [Durant] acted racist, but acted in a criminal manner.” Forty-two-year-old Mutavhatsindi worked at the Bartlet Poultry Farm. He was shot and killed in an open field near the informal settlement of Matshelapad, outside Krugersdorp, on 6 January. The matter was postponed to 13 April for further investigation. Earlier, chaos had erupted when members of the public – some clad in ANC, EFF and Pan Africanist Congress T-shirts – disrupted court proceedings. Police acted swiftly to remove the protesters from the courtroom.
- Read this report by Iavan Pijoos in full at City Press
- Read too, Krugersdorp farm worker killing: Angry members of public disrupt court proceedings, at News24
- And also, Trekker-saak: 'As hy wit was, was hy nie dood', at Netwerk24 (limit on access)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page