Three North West farmers convicted for farm dweller’s murder

Three men who beat a farm dweller to death on an agricultural plot near Brits in the North West have been found guilty by the Pretoria high court.

Jaco Wessels Kemp, Louis Coetzee and Gert Frederik van der Westhuizen accosted Dumisani Phakathi on September 16 2023.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said: “The three farmers were having a braai at a chicken farm in Mamokgalieskraal.

“At about 4pm they saw Phakathi walking past the farm gate on his way to collect water from a nearby furrow, which community members commonly used as a water source. The three approached him and assaulted him. They then dragged him into a storage facility inside the chicken farm, where the assault continued until he succumbed to his injuries.”

At 2am the next day, Kemp and Coetzee were stopped by police during a stop-and-search operation on the R511 towards Brits.

Their bakkie was loaded with black refuse bags. On searching the vehicle, police saw human legs protruding from underneath the bags.

They found Phakathi’s bloodied body, with his head covered in plastic.

The two men were immediately arrested. Van der Westhuizen handed himself over to police on September 19 2023.

In court, the trio pleaded not guilty to the charges and shifted blame onto one another, Mahanjana said.

The case has been postponed to March 16 for sentencing proceedings.

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