Coligny teenager buried amid mounting tensions

Mourners at the funeral carried sunflowers aloft as they sang hymns and liberation songs at the grave of Matlhomola Jonas Mosweu as his coffin was lowered into the grave. Others ate the sunflower seeds.

Tension mounted as more than 1000 people, including North West premier Supra Mahumapelo, education MEC Sello Lehari, community safety MEC Mpho Motlhabane, Ngaka Modiri Molema mayor Justice Makolomakwe, and Ditsobotla mayor Daniel Buthelezi paid their respect to Mosweu, 16, who died on April 20.

He was born on December 8, 2001 on Vetpan farm in the Lichtenburg district as the third child of Agnes Machibidu, 43, and Sakkie Dingake, 45. He was a grade 6 pupil at Haakboslaagte Primary School.

Two farmers Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte were arrested on April 25 in connection with Mosweu's death. They will find out on Monday whether Magistrate Makgaola Foso will grant them bail. Irate residents of Tlhabologang and the Scotland informal settlement have been protesting at the local magistrate's court calling on the court not to grant the accused bail.

Doorewaard and Schutte alleged in their affidavits before the court that they caught Mosweu stealing sunflowers and loaded him into the back of a van, intending to hand him to the police. However, 3km from town he allegedly jumped from the moving van and suffered neck injuries.

They left him at the scene and went to the police station to ask the police to call an ambulance and attend to the scene, but refused to take the police to the "accident scene". An eyewitness claimed Mosweu was thrown or pushed from the van while it was still moving. He later died in hospital.

Mahumapelo told mourners that Faki, as Mosweu was generally known, died at the hands of "racist whites".

"What the court must deal with is how they killed him - not whether it is them who killed him. The court must only deal with the 'how' part of it," he said to applause from the crowd.

"I am not a racist. I have problems with white superiority. If they are not racist, why do they signed a white all petition calling for the release of the accused on bail. Not all whites are racist, let whites who are not racist join us when we march against racism…"

Mahumapelo said he was not against the courts dealing with the matter independently. Coligny was not the only "racist town" in the North West. He mentioned Ventersdorp, Potchefstroom, Lichtenburg, and Swartruggens as examples.

He also said racism was being displayed through education in North West. "Black people are excluded on the basis of language. Our young people cannot access education because white people use Afrikaans as means to exclude them. We are going to engage such school, if need be a law must be passed that education should be in the language of the majority."

South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) provincial chairperson Mxolisi Bomvana said the provincial government's village, township, and small dorpies (VTSD) programme should be applied in education so that the teacher/pupil ratio could be reduced. In township schools teachers had classes of over 70 pupils, while in town schools the number was far less.

Mosweu's death sparked a protest that left a trail of destruction. Among others, three houses and three trucks were burned and several shops were looted and trashed.

The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the North West intends to stage a protest march on Monday to the Coligny Magistrate's Court in an attempt to persuade the court not to grant bail to the two accused. Locals said should the men be granted bail "chaos" would break out. A large police contingent has been deployed to maintain order in Coligny.