MKMVA IS DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE RULING OF THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL IN THE MURDER OF MATLHOMOLA MOSHEOU AND CALLS ON THE NPA TO APPEAL

Date: Tuesday, 1 December 2020

The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association is deeply concerned about the acquittal by the Supreme Court of Appeal of two white men who were previously found guilty of murdering a young black teenager for allegedly having stolen sunflowers.

Pieter Dooreward and Phillip Schutte, of Coligny, were previously convicted of throwing the 16 year old Matlhomola Mosheou of the back of a moving bakkie, causing his death. These basic facts about how their despicable behavior caused the death of a poor and hungry black teenager, whose only sin was that he was trying to get something to eat, are not in dispute.

In the general context of white racism in our country, there can be little doubt that the terrible action of the two white men against a sixteen year old black teenager is rooted in the racism that black South Africans still face every day.

MKMVA is therefore shocked and dismayed by the ruling of acquittal by the Supreme Court of Appeal, and we urge the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to take this judgement on urgent appeal to the Constitutional Court.

There should be a public outcry about the death of a young black life that had been cut short in it’s prime, and an insistence that those responsible must be brought to book. Impunity can never be tolerated. MKMVA is distraught that there has until now not been a far more vocal and strong outcry about this matter.

Black Lives Matter!

Statement issued by Carl Niehaus, NEC Member of MKMVA and National Spokesperson, 1 December 2020