‘There are not enough coffins for all of us’ – EFF vows to deal with racists

The two men accused of forcing Rethabile Mlotshwa into a coffin and threatening to set him alight, have abandoned their application for bail saying they fear for their lives on the outside.

Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins appeared in the Middelburg Magistrates’ Court this morning on charges of kidnapping and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

In a video which has gone viral on social media, the pair are seen shoving Mlotshwa into a coffin. One of them tells Mlotshwa to sit still so that he can pour petrol.

Mlotshwa is believed to have been taking a short cut which took him on to the property of one of the pair. He told journalists outside the court that the pair accused him of trespassing.

The case was postponed to January 25 2017.

Meanwhile outside the court ANC, DA and EFF members came to show their support to Mlotshwa, who was wearing ANC regalia.

Both the EFF and ANC set up trucks with sound systems. Their leaders condemning the attack, which they labelled racist.

ANC Youth League deputy president Desmond Moela shouted into the microphone that racist white people had no place in SA.

“We will drive racists back to the sea; they must stop what they are doing. We do not want to remove them by force,” Moela said.

Mlotshwa spoke very briefly on the ANC’s stage, thanking everyone who had come out to support him. His mother collapsed shortly after the court proceedings and was rushed to the provincial hospital.

Meanwhile EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi told EFF supporters that the issue of land compelled them to be in court today.

He said that white people continued to ill-treat black people because they were arrogant given that, even 22 years after democracy, they still owned land.

“Black people continue to live on their knees begging from white people because they have the land,” he said.

Ndlozi warned that they would be coming for white people on farms who continued to mete out hateful acts against blacks. He also called on blacks to make citizens' arrests wherever racist incidents occurred, saying that police had failed in their duties.

“If they do not want to arrest racists, we will build prisons in the townships; we will try and sentence them.

“When you see land, occupy it. It is yours. There are not enough coffins for all of us. They cannot kill and jail all of us.”

	S'thembile Cele Journalist City Press p: +27 11 713 9001 w: www.citypress.co.za  e: Sthembile.Cele@citypress.co.za
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