2008-05-21 : Man arrested over shooting 'burglars'

[GOSA]

Man arrested over shooting 'burglars'



CATHY THOMPSON


JOAHHNESBURG - Police arrested a 26-year-old man yesterday, and
charged him with murder and attempted murder after he allegedly shot
dead a burglar and wounded another through a locked door in his
parents' farmhouse.


Jaco Swart, of Delareyville, told police the men were tampering with
the lock and trying to gain entry to the bedroom where he was
sleeping at 2am last Friday.


North West police spokesman Captain Aafje Botma told The Citizen
this week police had to free Swart from the bedroom when they
arrived.


She also said they found electrical appliances outside the house,
ready for removal by the suspected thieves.


The incident has unleashed a political storm, with Cosatu North West
secretary Solly Phetoe claiming it was racist. Cosatu compared the
shooting of the two to the shooting of 10 people in the informal
settlement of Skielik.

[GOSA]

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Afri ... 50,00.html


It's self-defence, not racism'
21/05/2008 08:01 - (SA)


Nicolize van der Walt, Beeld

Delareyville - While a young farmer appeared in court in the town on charges
of murder and attempted murder, interest groups and other politicians lashed
out against a Cosatu spokesperson's "irresponsible statements".

Cosatu's provincial secretary Solly Phetoe, in a statement this week,
referred to "racist murders" after Jaco Swart, 26, shot two men in his
farmhouse at about 02:00.

The initial investigation showed that Swart, who apparently slept with his
bedroom door locked, had fired only one shot with his father's licensed
firearm. Both intruders presumably were hit by the same bullet.
'Nothing racist'

Michael Thipe, 35, was fatally wounded in the head and his 33-year-old
accomplice was hit in the lung. The latter fled after being shot and was
later arrested in a nearby informal settlement.

"There is nothing racist about this shooting incident."

"My client protected himself and his possessions according to the law."

"Cosatu is fanning the flames of racial tension. It's funny that when people
kill off foreigners of other races, it's xenophobia but when a white person
is involved, it's immediately racism," Swart's advocate said to Beeld on
Tuesday.

The DA's provincial leader in North West, Chris Hattingh, submitted a motion
to the provincial legislature about, among other things, Phetoe's remarks.
"We expressed our worry over the politicising of murders and farmers'
defencelessness specifically over Phetoe's remarks.

"It's irresponsible and he misuses his podium to polarise people on the
grounds of race."

North West Premier Edna Molewa apparently warned officials to act
responsibly during these types of occurrences and to discuss them prudently.
The provincial leader if the Freedom Front Plus Pieter Groenewald said in a
statement said the party would write to Cosatu to ask its leaders to
intervene in case of "such irresponsible statements by provincial
officials".

"Susan Shabangu, the deputy minister of safety and security, can't say that
police officers may shoot to kill if their lives are being threatened but
then it doesn't count for ordinary citizens," Groenewald said.
Swart's bail of R2 000 was paid by AfriForum, a civil rights organisation
that also supported the Swart family during the court hearing.

AfriForum's spokesperson Nantes Kelder said they were worried that South
Africa was being driven towards a Zimbabwe-situation where politicians would
start interfering in the legal system and that could not be allowed.

The case was postponed until August 26.

[GOSA]

Editorial 2008-05-22


Race a bad call in this climate


Pro-gun lobbyists and others have valid arguments about the arrest
of a Delareyville man who allegedly shot dead a burglar and wounded
another through a locked door.


We share their concerns about the continual interference with the
rights of law-abiding people to defend their lives and property
against dangerous intruders.


This arrest is a far cry from the reckless "Kill the bastards" call
by Deputy Safety and Security Minister Susan Sha(bang)bangu. But
South Africans have become accustomed to this stream of mixed
messages.


However, especially worrying about the Delareyville case is the
unwarranted intrusion of Cosatu. Unions have a right to comment on
any matter they choose. We do not subscribe to the view that they
should confine themselves to labour issues, and we assume the
intruders weren't Cosatu members.


Whatever prompted Cosatu North West provincial secretary Solly
Phetoe to describe the killing as a "racist murder", his reported
statement and its timing are ill-considered. He also apparently said
there was an increase in racist murders led "by a few white racist
people in the Department of Justice". Would he have approved the
shooting of white intruders?


The Afrikanerbond and the FF-Plus say his remarks amount to hate
speech, and help "stimulate racial conflicts and create explosive
situations on farms".


Farm murders are indeed terribly worrying but there is an even
broader concern.
Cosatu has rightly condemned xenophobia and its accompanying
violence. Surely the federations can see the link between this and
the needless injection of race into contentious situations?


We must stop vilifying others on the basis of race, ethnicity or
country of origin. Selective morality is immoral.

[GOSA]

http://www.citizen.co.za/index/section. ... 51226,1,33

Inflaming the racists

Solly Phetoe claims that Jaco Swart's shooting of two burglars was racist.

Since the burglars were shot through a locked door and their race would thus
be unapparent, this strikes me as a repulsive attempt to garner support from
the ignorant, and from racists who see white people as their enemy. Clear
evidence is that Swart had good reason to fear for his safety.

Why, then, are the police persecuting him for defending himself?

WAYNE MEYER
by e-mail

[GOSA]

Typical propaganda against white people
I find it outrageous that Cosatu has once again jumped on an opportunity to
play the race card, referring to "Man arrested over shooting burglars", 20
May.
This is yet another example of typically communist propaganda against the
whites.
If someone breaks into my house and tampers with my lock, there is no
question that I will shoot him, black or white.
Even if I'm not sure whether he's armed or not I'm not going to wait around
to find out. Now this incident has been compared to the Skielik shooting, as
if it was a planned and conscious massacre.
This guy (Mr Swart) was acting in self defence, and has every right to do
so.
GAVIN KUKARD
Middelburg

[GOSA]

ANC 'disarms victims'

Could someone explain what kind of person weighs in on the side of thugs who
break in to another person's home at 2am?

Clearly, Cosatu's Solly Phetoe couldn't give a fig for the distinction
between "mine" and "thine".

The core value in the ANC is a fundamental indifference to the distinction
between "right" and "wrong". That indifference to the notion of objective
morality is at the heart of every crisis, as South Africa fails as a state
after 14 years of ANC misrule.

Phetoe's utterances clarify why the ANC has been hell-bent on disarming the
victims of ANC supporters' depredations.

B NORTJE
by e-mail