Blog South Africa

Crime and murder has been rife in South Africa over the past decade or so, but it seems to me that murder is now reaching epidemic proportions. Other serious crime also seems to have escalted out of all proportion – take a look at the beating up of baby Marzaan Kruger.

These terrible things got so much worse when South Africa stopped using the death penalty.

Some Arguments for the Death Penalty

- Some argue that the death of a criminal gives closure to their victim’s (if they are still alive) and their families.

- The death penalty serves as a deterrent to criminals who may be considering committing a capital offence.

- One of the main principals of punishment and the judicial system is that the penalty fits the crime. If someone violently murders another individual or numerous people, then it makes sense for the punishment to be death.

- Some anti-death penalty campaigners describe examples of people on death row, or people have already been killed have then been proved innocent. Today, the accuracy of modern forensics and DNA testing makes it very unlikely for an innocent person to be put on death row. Furthering this point, it is argued that the number of innocent people that may be killed is equalised by the number of actual criminals that are set free.

- Putting people in prison, as opposed to executing them gives them a chance of parole (or the small chance of escape), meaning they can commit more crimes. Capital punishment means there is no chance of the criminal committing another crime.

Some Arguments Against the Death Penalty
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Tags: Crime, death penalty, justice, murder// Category Crime // Add Comment »

Brittany Mitchell, the KwaZulu-Natal teenager who was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after she tried to have the mother of her former boyfriend killed, will not face a trial, instead she will have to go to Anger Management classes, a life skills course and do 100 hours of community work.

Now it must be noted that the withdrawal, or diversion, of charges is used to prevent minors or adults with minor offences from going through court procedures and rather receive rehabilitative assistance.

So what exactly is classified as a “minor offence” these days if conspiracy to commit murder falls in that category?

This worrying court decision is quite rampant in the UK these days, where so many people have been pretty much “let off” without barely a slap on the wrist. The result of this in the UK has been a rise in crime, particularly amongst the youth. These young offenders have grown up knowing that nothing will be done to them, regardless of the crime committed.

We can already see this attitude amongst the youth of South Africa. Over the past ten years we have seen a massive rise in serious youth crime, including murder, rape and violence. It is court decisions such as this that can only fuel this “untouchable” belief amongst the youth and further fuel this out-of-control behaviour.

My personal feeling is that we need to bring back firm discipline to the schools and homes, as well as firm action by the courts. Kids need to know that there are boundaries and that when they cross them, there are severe consequences!

Tags: behaviour, Brittany Mitchell, consequences, court, murder plot// Category Crime, Society & Culture // 1 Comment »

There has still been absolutely no word by the police on the Anika Smit murder case. One has to wonder if any progress has been made?

What does this silence mean?

Well it could be that the police are still waiting for the crime labs to process all the evidence. It is well known that these labs are notoriously slow in getting results, generally because they are so overworked and understaffed.

Another conclusion could be that the police are absolutely clueless about the identity of the killer. This doesn’t surprise me, as it seems as though the police only get speedy results if the killer hangs around waiting to get picked up (a la the E.T. killers).

What worries me is that the longer we go without answers, the greater chance there is that the police will just try to pin this on a suspect without much evidence to back it up.

It seems that the media is also strangely silent about this. Despite the later E.T. murder, one would think that they would at least mention this case in passing!

Tags: Anika Smit, media, murder, police// Category Anika Smit Murder // Add Comment »

Nicolaas Pieter Johannes “Siener” van Rensburg (August 30, 1862 – March 11, 1926) was a Boer from the South African Republic -also known as the Transvaal Republic- and later a citizen of South Africa who is seen by some as a prophet of the Boere (or Afrikaners). Therefore his nickname soon became Siener, which is Afrikaans for “seer” or “soothsayer”. His seemingly accurate predictions of future events were typically wrapped in religious patriotism.

Visions

The nature of his visions invariably concerned the welfare of the Boere and Germany and were experienced by him as visual imagery to be interpreted afterwards. When the image of the Sisal plant occurred in his visions, he for instance interpreted this as a portend of an important meeting, assembly or parliament. He is believed by some to have made many accurate predictions of local events, including foretelling the death of Koos de la Rey, a general in the Second Boer War, and the political transition of South Africa after his own death. At times his visions also concerned international events, among which the start of World War I and the rise of Communism. He was unable to interpret some of his own visions. These, written down, are still open to interpretation, and believed by some to pertain to future events.

Early years

He was born in the district of Potchefstroom. He only received 20 days of formal school training and spent much of his youth as a cattle herder. At age 16 he participated in a government expedition against the rebellious tribal leader Mapog. He settled near Wolmaranstad in the then western ZAR, and married Anna Sophia Kruger in 1884.

Participation in wars

Nicolaas van Rensburg participated in the second Anglo-Boer War under General du Toit. When time allowed, he then revealed the visions to those around him. He returned to his farm before the end of the war. When the Union of South Africa came out in support of the Allied Powers in World War I, Nicolaas van Rensburg joined the rebels. The rebellion received a fatal blow even before it started, when the influential general Koos de la Rey was accidentally killed on September 15, 1914. The rebellion petered out and most rebels, van Rensburg included, were eventually captured and imprisoned for two years.
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Tags: predictions, prophet, Siener van Rensburg, visions// Category History // Add Comment »

Over the coming weeks, I am going to be posting some interesting audio from the past. Aside from the interesting story, it is an adventure to journey back into South Africa’s past and see how people have changed in their views of both society and race.

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Not much is known about the radio series Moon Over Africa. It is thought to be a South African radio show which aired around 1937 or 1938. There are 26 episodes lasting 15 minutes each. Since nothing is really known about the series we are not sure if there were episodes which aired before, or after, these 26 episodes.

The 26 episodes follow an expedition led by Professor Anton Edwards as they search for the missing city of Atlantis. They follow the directions of a shrunken head which speaks the ancient language of the people of Atlantis and run into many strange dangers in the African jungle.

If anyone has further info, please contact me.

Tags: History, Moon Over Africa, Podcast// Category Podcasts // Add Comment »

Hi all

As was mentioned, we lost the entire site when the ISP crashed during a backup.

We are busy trying to restore as much of the previous entries as possible, but as no backup exists, we need to rely on what we can scrape from the net. If anyone has any pages saved, please contact me via the comments.

One positive side is that we can start over again with new functionality and a sleeker look and feel!

Please note that you will have to re-register on the site too.

Thanks
James

// Category Site News // Add Comment »

Today I received this email along with a copy of the press release below:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

We would appreciate it if you would publish the enclosed press statement on behalf of our client in your publications as soon as possible.

We thank you in anticipation.

BRIAN LOWE
LOWE & PETERSEN ATTORNEYS
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

LOTZ & LOTZ v FB van der Vyver

We have been requested by our client, Mr Fred van der Vyver, to issue the following statement:

For the past few months, a campaign has been waged in the press against our client Mr. Fred van der Vyver in which it has been stated and reported widely that Porfessor and Mrs. Lotz, the parents of Inge Lotz, have found “new evidence” against Mr van der Vyver. Most of these statements have been made by a Ms Dani Cohen as spokesperson for Prof & Mrs Lotz.

Among the statements so made is the allegation that “new, crucial evidence” has been found against Mr van der Vyver to “establish he murdered Inge”.

As a consequence of these press statements Counsel for Mr van der Vyver requested further particulars for trial to the claim instituted against him by Prof. and Mrs. Lotz, referring specifically to Ms Cohen’s statements and requesting the plaintiffs to set out fully what new material fact or facts plaintiffs will rely upon in their action.

In response to such request, the legal representatives of Prof. and Mrs. Lotz’s have replied as follows:

“There are no new material facts upon which the plaintiffs intend to rely.”

Both the request for particulars and the reply thereto are filed at Court.

A letter reserving Mr van der Vyver’s rights against Prof and Mrs Lotz, and Ms Cohen, in regard to the above defamatory statements and the damage that Mr van der Vyver is suffering, will soon be served on the attorneys of Prof and Mrs Lotz.

Tags: Fred van der Vyver, Inge Lotz// Category Inge Lotz Murder // Add Comment »

Despite the fact that the courts found Fred van der Vyver not only ‘not guilty’ but also ‘innocent’ of murdering Inge Lotz, the parents of Inge are now suing Fred for approximately R4 million each!

Some people have claimed that this is similar to the OJ Simpson trial but there are big differences. In the OJ trial, there was always an element of doubt as to the juries findings. These doubts were based on race issues (evident in juror statements after the trial), evidence that was not presented and even some doubt concerning evidence that was presented in the trial. In the van der Vyver case, the case was far more compelling that he was in fact innocent of the charges.

Personally I think that suing after the case has been decided is wrong and really should not be allowed. I am talking about when a ‘not guilty’ verdict is reached only. A civil court could reach a different decision to a criminal court, because while the latter had to find a suspect guilty “beyond reasonable doubt”, a civil court could find a suspect guilty on “the balance of probabilities”. Doesnt this fly in the face of what a criminal trial is all about?

We all acknowledge the pain and suffering caused to victims families and we whole heartedly sympethise with them. However a civil trial, after the criminal trial has found a defendant ‘not guilty’, somehow suggests spite on the part of the victims family. It also hows that they are not satisfied with the result of the criminal trial, which of course in this case is to be expected. One wonders why they do not rather sue the police for running a shoddy investigation.

I do not think that the Lotz’s reached this decision on their own. As Dup de Bruyn, Fred’s advocate said, he knows who is behind this action and what their motive is. I feel that the Lotz family are now being used by other individuals in order to further their own agenda.

My personal feeling is that the Stellenbosch police are possibly behind it. If the civil action works in the Lotz’s favour, then they will be ‘redeemed’ in the eyes of not only the family but the community at large. This could be just a mere case of disaster management strategy. They can gain credibility because of it – a case of ‘the fish didn’t really get away’. This would somehow justify their investigation.

It would be very interesting if this motive did come out in the court case, because if it is the cops, they will have an aweful amount to lose on this gamble!

Tags: Fred van der Vyver, Inge Lotz// Category Inge Lotz Murder // Add Comment »

It has been reported that the police are going to charge Werner Carolus with obstructing and defeating the ends of justice. Apparently a docket was registered in Stellenbosch last week which paves the way for the charges.

During the trial Carolus had confessed to police that he had burgled Inge’s flat and that he witnessed his friends killing her.

Daryl Els and Christiaan Botha, the private investigators briefly hired by the Van der Vyver family had decided to investigate the matter further, with Els interviewing Carolus in prison where he got a confession and identification of the others allegedly involved.

Botha said that he had sent his findings to national Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi’s office and also to the Independent Complaints Commission and that he hoped that they would investigate it further.

So now we have another standoff between the police and the former van der Vyver team. Who will ultimately prevail? Will we finally discover the truth?

I don’t have a lot of faith in the Selebi angle. Selebi is currently a tad too concerned with his own leal problems to bother about this case. Maybe we will see some result from the IDC.

Tags: Fred van der Vyver, Inge Lotz// Category Inge Lotz Murder // Add Comment »

Dr Chris Landman of the State President’s Commission for the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Commission) told the Cape Argus that the government needs to review the Lotz murder case and investigate the conduct of the State investigators.

He further said that if the investigation revealed that the investigators have acted irregularly, then all their earlier cases need to be reviewed in case other innocent people have been jailed.

I totally agree with Dr Landman. Most of us have known for a very long time that in many cases the police and/or prosecution are corrupt and mishandle cases. My hope is that other people will stand up and condemn the actions of the State and police in the handling of this case in particular and in the way they handle cases generally.

Tags: Fred van der Vyver, Inge Lotz// Category Inge Lotz Murder // Add Comment »