Coka brothers murder suspects arrested for another double farm murder

Three of the suspects arrested by Mpumalanga police in a dramatic swoop in Piet Retief on Friday in connection with the murder of two black farm dwellers in August, are the same men who were out on bail for the April murder of the Coka brothers.

Cousins Musa Nene, 34 and Sifiso Thwala 39 were beaten to death, with the latter’s brother, Sthembiso (32) barely hanging to life to tell the grisly tale.

Also Read: NPA mum over probe into double farm murders

According to the SA Farm Workers and Labour Tenants Association, at least five SA Police Service (Saps) units, including the Tactical response Team (TRT) from Middleburg, National Intervention Unit from Pretoria and the K9 from Middleburg were involved in the early morning raid.

“It was chaotic. Five of the suspects are black farm workers and they ran into the open field. Others hid in the farm house and were all sniffed out by dogs. The arrests instilled a bit of hope of justice for the terrorised black farm dwellers because cases involving rich white farmers just disappear here,” Leader of the association Bongani Hlatshwayo said.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said a total of seven suspects aged between 25 and 60 were arrested.

“There are eight suspects in total but only seven were arrested on Friday. Three of the suspects are suspects in the murder of Coka brothers,” he said.

The suspects are due to appear in the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court today (on Monday) on two counts of murder, kidnapping, one count of attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice.

The trio was attacked on the evening of 9 August last year by a group of farmers and workers who accused them of stealing sheep after they had stopped near Pampoenkraal Farm to fix a punctured wheel of their vehicle.

The case had gone cold despite there being a key witness, until it was thrust in the spotlight by the murder of Pampoenkraal Farm dwellers Mgcini, 36, and Zenzele, 39, Coka eight months later.

The duo were gunned down on 9 April following a violent confrontation during which other white farmers were summoned to assist as Pampoenkraal Farm was besieged by a group of farm dwellers armed with sticks and steel pipes demanding jobs.

Also Read: Court hears Coka brothers shot in the back, one killed execution style

Daniel Malan, 38, Cornelius Greyling, 26, Othard Clingberg, 58, and Michael Sternberg, 31 – and Pampoenkraal farm foreman Zenzele Patrick Yende were subsequently arrested for two counts of murder each and one of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. They were released on R10 000 bail.

More than a week ago, the list of suspects in this matter increased to seven after two more farmers, Andre Pienaar, 32 and Wiener Potgieter, 47, handed themselves over to police and later released on R10 000 bail each.

The prosecution’s case is that the Coka brothers were unarmed but gunned down in cold blood, both shot in the back and Mgcini, finished off “execution style” with a single bullet as he lay helpless on the dirt road.

But the defence’s case is that of self-defence; that Mgcini, who had his shirt off, was extremely violent and three farmers had already been severely injured.

The version of one of the accused (Clingberg) is that it appeared that Mgcini was firing and had already hit his brother, and so he fired two shots.

Also Read: ‘We’re not safe’: Coka family fears for their lives after murder accused get bail

Nomalanga Thwala, Sifiso’s younger sister, said they had mixed feelings about the arrest of the killers of her brother and cousin because it took another similar double murder, the same suspects, for something to happen in their case.

“If it was not for the killing of the Coka brothers, this case was dead. We were not hearing anything from the NPA though police had completed their investigation, there was no warrant of arrest. The arrest open up old wounds. The only closure for us is justice for my brother, cousin and the Coka brothers,” she said. siphom@citizen.co.za