Black woman ‘mistaken’ for hippo, shot in Limpopo

A white Limpopo farmer appeared in court on Thursday for shooting and wounding a black woman he claimed he mistook for a hippo, police said.

Paul Hendrik van Zyl, 77, was arrested on Tuesday after firing shots in the direction of the woman who was fishing with her partner in a river in Lephalale.

He faces attempted murder charges, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

“The arrested suspect alleged he was shooting at the animals,” police spokesperson Mamphaswa Seabi said in a statement.

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Ramokone Linah, 38, sustained gun shot wounds on her arm, while her partner “managed to hide”, police said.

The accused “is the owner of the farm where the incident occurred”, said NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi.

Van Zyl was granted R1,000 bail and the case was postponed to 18 May for further investigations.

A group of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters staged a protest outside the court against the granting of bail, according to the party’s posts on Twitter.

Such incidents normally cause outrage in the country where deep racial divisions persist 28 years after the end of white minority apartheid rule.