Willem Petzer denies calling farm murder activist the k-word

Two activists against, among other things, farm attacks and farm murders are in disagreement after Petrus Sitho posted a video on Facebook in which he claims that Willem Petzer called him the k-word.

In the video, Sitho claims that Petzer is guilty of racism and says that this will not be tolerated in South Africa. “It doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, Indian or brown. If someone acts racist towards you, report them,” says Sitho in the video.

Sitho told The Citizen that he had opened a case against Petzer with the police in East London. He did not want to elaborate on the details of the alleged incident, but said that South Africans do not want to hear the truth. “Now someone acted racist towards me and that’s why I took legal action.”

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With reference to Petzer and the activists Tewie Wessels, Devon Hofmeyr and Francois van der Merwe’s recent appearance in the magistrate’s court in Groblersdal, Sitho says, “I was there to stand up for them, but now this has happened”.

The four were arrested on charges of incitement to public violence and released on bail. The complaint stems from an incident on 24 January outside the magistrate’s court in Groblersdal where an exchange of words arose between protesters and the police.

Petzer wrote in a post on Facebook on Thursday morning that he “may be arrested again on false allegations, orchestrated by the same group behind the previous arrest in Groblersdal”.

However, he did not want to comment and referred The Citizen to his lawyer, Roelof Vorster.

According to Vorster, Petzer strongly denies the allegation and last spoke to Sitho more than a year ago. “Willem is a man who chooses his words very carefully. He will not make himself guilty of racism.”

Vorster further says that Sitho will have to prove his allegation with information on where the incident took place, what exactly happened and who witnessed it.

“Anyone cannot open a case of racism if there is no evidence. The Facebook post by Sitho amounts to crimen injuria, but the legal system works on the principle that he who makes a claim must prove it.”

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