The commission's spokesperson, Thabang Kheswa, spoke to OFM News in Senekal near Matwabeng after their first meeting with these multi-stakeholders with the aim to charter a way forward and deal with issues besieging these communities. 

This meeting happened on the same day the murder suspects Sekwetje Mahlamba (32) and Sekola Matlaletsa (44) applied for bail in the town’s Magistrate's Court after allegedly murdering Horner, which caused a serious debate about farm murders in the country.

Kheswa says serious issues of stock theft, the ill-treatment of workers, and mistrust in the police made it to the fore during the engagement.

“We want to start a process where people discuss what the social challenges are, what the social ills are, and what challenges the community are faced with. We also want to find out what challenges the farmers and farmworkers are faced with. The relations between workers and farm owners - we want to get to the bottom of the root causes of some of these things that we see, whether these could be just elements of criminality or sources,” he adds.

On Tuesday 6 October protesters stormed the Senekal Magistrate's Court and damaged property. They demanded that Horner’s alleged killers be handed to them.

During these chaotic scenes, a police van was overturned and set alight, allegedly by protesters, which have since led to the arrest of André Pienaar (51) and Stephen Fourie (33). Both are out on R15 000 bail.

The incidents drew much criticism from different quarters of South Africa, including political parties such as the EFF, police minister Bheki Cele, and Justice and Correctional Services minister Ronald Lamola.

Meanwhile, while handing down his judgment on the bail application of Mahlamba and Matlaletse, Magistrate Deon van Rooyen said Horner’s murder case exposed deep racial divisions, economic disparities, and mistrust of the justice system of the police.

He denied Mahlamba bail and granted Matlaletsa bail of R5000, The matter was postponed to 1 December 2020.

OFM News