Maverick Citizen

Child beaten with sjambok, another ridden over in bakkie - alarm sounded about attacks on Matzikama's kids

Sarah Bakamela, a Lutzville community leader and activist, outside Vredendal Magistrates’ Court. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

By Tamsin Metelerkamp

5 Nov 2024

Activists and local leaders in the Matzikama Municipality have raised concerns about the high rate of violence against vulnerable people – particularly children – in the rural region. - 'You cannot take the law into your own hands,' said activist Billy Claasen,

In September of this year, a man was arrested for allegedly running over a six-year-old boy and his mother in Lutzville on the West Coast in the Western Cape, in what appeared to be a violent response to the boy stealing an orange from his orchard. The boy suffered two broken legs and the farmer, 70-year-old Christoffel Stoman, faces charges of attempted murder and reckless and negligent driving.

The case sent shockwaves through Matzikama Municipality, in which Lutzville falls, and made national headlines. However, local activists claim it is far from the only incident where vulnerable members of the community have been victimised. Their accounts speak to a pattern of violence that has seen individuals – and in particular children – from disadvantaged backgrounds harmed or killed.

western cape violence children Billy Claasen, executive director of the nonprofit Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation, outside Vredendal Magistrates’ Court. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“There’s this thing that some people said, especially in the media [with] the comments of some people, that it’s an isolated issue,” said Billy Claasen, executive director of the nonprofit Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation, on the case in which the six-year-old was run over. “It is not [an isolated issue] because there’s an ongoing thing, a systemic thing of these incidents happening – especially in this area of Matzikama.”

Claasen is a long-time activist in Matzikama Municipality, who has been acting as spokesperson for the family of the injured boy. The municipality encompasses Lutzville, about 326km north of Cape Town, and the towns of Vredendal and Klawer. All three towns lie within a 3o-minute drive of one another.

A pattern of violence

When Daily Maverick arrived in Vredendal to meet Claasen on 21 October, he was attending the trial of 58-year-old Daniel Smit in the Western Cape High Court sitting at Vredendal Magistrates’ Court. Smit stood accused of the murder of 13-year-old Jerobejin van Wyk in February 2022, after the victim and his friend allegedly stole mangos from Smit’s property in Klawer.

Thirteen-year-old Jerobejin van Wyk went missing on 2 February 2022 in Klawer, Western Cape. His remains were found in a drain on 4 February. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer)

Smit was arrested for Van Wyk’s murder after human remains were discovered in sewage pipes on his property. During the trial, it was revealed that Smit had run over the fleeing child with his bakkie. He then took Van Wyk back to his house, where he broke his neck, according to a News24 report.

Smit claimed in court that past involvement in a Chinese occult group influenced his actions, including his decision to dismember Van Wyk and burn parts of his body after committing the murder.

In her statement before the court this week, Jerobejin’s mother Triesa van Wyk said, “I can’t imagine how you [Smit], in your capacity as a parent of children, could have it in your heart to so brutally kill another parent’s child and behead him… My heart hurts so much because I will never ever understand what was going through your head.

“My child is dead. My child’s life on earth was stopped, not by God but by the hand of a human being. I struggle to accept the suspect as a civilised person because what parent kills another’s child... a defenceless child.”

Smit was found guilty of attempted murder, kidnapping, premeditated murder, violating a corpse and defeating the ends of justice on Monday, 28 October. However, Mathilda Bains, a spokesperson for the Van Wyk family, said that Triesa still had many unanswered questions about her son’s death, including what his last words were.

“I don’t think that this chapter can ever be closed by the mother. She cannot actually move forward. She’s heartbroken,” said Bains.

While in Vredendal, Daily Maverick was informed by Claasen that another violent incident involving a child had come to light in Lutzville.

western cape violence children lutzville A police officer from Lutzville Police Station in the Western Cape has been accused of assaulting this 13-year-old boy with a sjambok. (Photo: Supplied)

western cape violence children lutzville Police officer Jaco Oktober from Lutzville Police Station appeared in Lutzville Magistrates’ Court on 21 October, facing a charge of assaulting a 13-year-old boy with a sjambok, says the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

A police officer, Jaco Oktober, appeared in Lutzville Magistrates’ Court on 21 October, facing a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm for allegedly beating a 13-year-old boy with a sjambok, according to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid). He was accused of hitting the boy on the face, back and legs after the child had been arrested on suspicion of theft.

Read more: Lutzville police officer out on bail after allegedly assaulting 13-year-old with a sjambok

‘Taking the law into their own hands’

Reflecting on the spate of violent incidents that had taken place in Matzikama Municipality, Claasen alleged that some people believed they could get away with such acts because of a lack of accountability and effective police action in the community. He said there were other cases of assaults against vulnerable children in the community that had not made it to the courts.

“There’s a lot of issues in our community and these kinds of things need to stop. We cannot tolerate this. The police must do their work without fear, favour or any prejudice, and so should the prosecutors,” he said.

He drew parallels between the cases involving Jerobejin van Wyk and the six-year-old who was run over in September – both were allegedly harmed after stealing fruit from local landowners’ properties.

“You cannot take the law into your own hands… I’m one of those people that [believes] right is right and wrong is wrong. If you [think] they’ve done something wrong, take this person or those people to the police. Don’t take the law into your own hands. It is totally, totally wrong,” said Claasen.

Claasen’s concerns about the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Matzikama were echoed by Sarah Bakamela, a Lutzville activist. She said some cases brought to Lutzville police station were not investigated properly.

western cape violence children bakamela Sarah Bakamela, a Lutzville community leader and activist, outside Vredendal Magistrates’ Court. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“Since we lay complaints at the lower level, but our complaints seem to fall on deaf ears… we have decided we need to take it to the upper level now. So, every time there’s something that’s happened… we would rather write straight to the [National Prosecuting Authority] or… Ipid or to the commissioner of the police,” she said.

Bakamela said that since Oktober’s alleged assault of the 13-year-old, two mothers in the community had approached her, claiming that their children had also been beaten at the Lutzville police station, and that the police failed to assist them when they attempted to open cases concerning the incidents.

Claasen and Bakamela told Daily Maverick that there were still racist trends in the treatment of black and coloured populations by certain farm owners and SAPS members in the region.

“In our rural areas, we tend to get a lot of these complaints. It’s either… a white farmer who’s beaten up the worker or chased them when they don’t want to do the job as he pleases, or whatever… We report, but those cases don’t get anywhere… I think our SAPS down here in the rural [area], they’re not well equipped for such cases,” said Bakamela.

“The racism is an issue… We don’t say all white people. We have those who are good, who are against such crimes. I’ve got a lot of friends [and]... old aunties who are very friendly... but there’s some few people who are still living in the past. I so wish, in 30 years of democracy South Africa can change its mindset.”

Daily Maverick reached out to Agri Western Cape about the claims of activists in Matzikama Municipality but the organisation declined to comment.

When asked about the claim that there was a pattern of violence against vulnerable communities in the municipality, Colonel Andrè Traut, spokesperson for SAPS in the Western Cape, said, “Kindly request the local activists to present the information which was used to determine the alleged pattern, so that this office can pursue the matter and respond in detail please.”

He continued, “Any allegation of racism or non-compliance against SAPS is welcomed, so that the merits of the matter can be investigated departmentally. It is on this basis that we encourage any person who has knowledge of wrongdoing by our members to come forward and voice their concerns. SAPS management in the Province will not allow any racism or racial bias behaviour by members and decisive action will be instituted if the allegations are substantiated.”

Traut noted that in the cases involving alleged assaults by Stoman and Oktober, the suspects were arrested by SAPS shortly after the incidents were reported, “without any delay or hesitation on the part of local police”.

“The allegations of mismanagement, abuses and failures to pursue cases at Lutzville police station are not true. If any wrongdoing is detected at any of the province’s police stations, immediate remedial steps are instituted by provincial management to prevent a recurrence,” he said.

Addressing systemic issues

James Jantjies, ward committee member for safety and security in Lutzville, told Daily Maverick that the towns of Lutzville, Vredendal and Klawer were facing a problem with children who committed petty crimes out of desperation, to put food on the table, and spent time on the streets instead of in places of safety.

The instances of violence against children in Lutzville showed a “pattern of neglect” for the youth and vulnerable members of the community, according to Johan Muller, councillor for Ward 1 of Matzikama Municipality, which includes Lutzville.

“We need to take ownership of this, and that’s where I see that problem lies, that we don’t want to take ownership of our youth – specifically our vulnerable children,” said Muller.

“There’s a lot of kids dwelling on the streets, just walking around… and these are not kids that sleep on the street. These are kids that have homes… and then these atrocities happen to these kids. They are being exploited.”

Muller said there was a lack of safe spaces for vulnerable populations in the Matzikama region, such as children’s homes, rehabilitation centres and refuges for people seeking to escape abuse. He said social workers from the Department of Social Development were often overburdened and therefore slow to respond to the needs of troubled children.

“I think what’s desperately needed is also a safe space for the vulnerable in our community. There’s no safe spaces,” he said.

Both Jantjies and Muller advocated for the formation of a community policing forum in Lutzville that could help with identifying problem areas and improving the relationship between police and the community.

Bains told Daily Maverick that she would like to see more aftercare and recreational facilities in the towns that would assist with the challenges facing disadvantaged children, particularly those with working and single parents.

“We stay in a small community surrounded by a lot of farms. Poverty fuels desperation and escalates this by limiting access to essential resources, like education and recreational opportunities. I think when children lack those kinds of safe spaces and structural support, they become vulnerable to dangers. These disparities deepen social and emotional strain on them,” she said. DM

This is Part Two of a three-part series of farm violence stories, you can read Part One here.

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Maverick Citizen

A pattern of violence

‘Taking the law into their own hands’

Addressing systemic issues