The update can be found at the bottom of the story…
If you’re thinking that you’ve seen the words ‘racial’ and ‘Middleburg’ together before, you would be right.
Last year Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen were sentenced to 10 years in prison in the infamous coffin assault case, the pair found guilty of attempted murder and assault with the intent to commit grievous bodily harm.
That case was pretty cut and dry, but now another attack has the town demanding answers.
Times LIVE below:
In the latest attack‚ which was captured on a CCTV camera of business complex‚ 27-year-old Xolisile Ndzongana and his friend‚ Lawrence Nelumoni‚ were driving through the town centre to get home during the early hours of the morning on Sunday July 8 when they came across cars blocking Cowen Ntuli Road.
The attack is believed to have begun moments after Ndzongana – who was the sole breadwinner for his family in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape – asked the driver and passengers of one of the cars to move out of the way.
The suspects are said to have thrown alcohol‚ which they were drinking‚ over Ndzongana and Nelumoni‚ allegedly calling them the k-word before apparently dragging Ndzongana out of the car.
When Nelumoni ran to help his friend‚ he too was attacked.
Here is the CCTV footage in question, which might be difficult for some to watch:
Yeah, it should leave you shaken.
Nelumoni spoke to Times LIVE about the attack:
[He] said they were driving to Mhluzi township when they found a “couple of Afrikaners” blocking the road.
“I could see that they were drunk. They had beer bottles with them. They poured alcohol on us through our open windows when we asked if we could drive past.”
…Nelumoni said he thought the attack would stop when the security guards from Mid Alarms arrived but‚ “they [the attackers] kept on calling us k*****s…
He claimed that when the police arrived they told him to go to the police station.
“They said they could not help because they were heading to another scene. They had just happened to stumble upon us.”
Ndzongana was taken to Middelburg General Hospital from the police station, where he later died due to extensive brain injuries.
The police have come under heavy fire from angry members of the public, after they failed to arrest any of the suspects at the scene of the crime.
Suspects were only arrested earlier this week, after being requested to hand themselves in, and residents are now planning a mass march on Monday, which will end at the police station.
UPDATE – News24 reports:
Four men were arrested, appeared in court, and then released following an alleged racial attack in Middelburg, Mpumalanga that left a man dead last week.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi told News24 on Friday that a man, in his 30s, was beaten on Sunday, July 8, and died in hospital the next day.
Hlathi said the group were arrested on Wednesday this week. They appeared in court on Thursday and the case was withdrawn.
“We are still waiting for instructions from the prosecution team. We are pleading for calm from the community on this issue and we ask the media to give us space to investigate the matter,” he said.
Police are investigating a case of murder.
[source:timeslive]
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