Another farm murder, plus five talking points from ‘Vrye Weekblad’

There was a farm murder. A double murder with a sinister story behind it. A story of a woman's struggle against dark forces, a family ripped apart and a community shaken by yet another killing under the cover of darkness on a remote farm.

Last Thursday, somewhere between 8pm and 9pm, someone knocked on the stoep door. Zolisa Panyaza must have known the person who knocked because she opened the door. And was shot dead on the spot. There were allegedly 15 shots. Her son was apparently shot 10 times.

Her 12-year-old daughter hid in the bathroom, under a heap of washing in the bath. When it got quiet, she sent desperate please-call-me's to people because there wasn't enough airtime on her mom's phone to call.

The murder of Zolisa and her son shook the community. She has been on the farm Eversley for a long and troubled time. And this has all the hallmarks of a hit. 

Zolisa had a hard time and fought like a lioness for her right to be on the farm and for her children's future. 

She called a neighbour excitedly when she finally got the letter from the government confirming her long-term occupancy. A year later, she called the same neighbour after she was gang-raped. 

This is the story of a woman who was forsaken by the government and the police and who was finally shot dead like a dog, most likely by people who wanted her off the land, after a long and sinister campaign to terrorise her. 

One of the neighbours told Vrye Weekblad that the 12-year-old was inconsolable the morning after the murder because her cat was still in the house where her mom and brother were murdered. Someone went over to fetch her pet – the only comfort she has left of her old life in the yellow farmhouse.

Read more on this, and more news, analysis and interviews in this Friday's edition of Vrye Weekblad. 

Must-read articles in this week’s Vrye Weekblad

>> Browse the full September 17 edition

THE DARK HEART OF THE ANC | A new book with eyewitness accounts of the abuses in the ANC's camps in our neighbouring states makes Max du Preez wonder if he sounded enough of a warning against the ANC's political culture in the old days. 

HOW ARE WE LOOKING? | Andries Bezuidenhout asks what we'll think of the 2020s 40 years from now, and where we thought 40 years ago we'd be by now. 

PSYCHIC FOR A DAY | In 1956, a “psychic” from Pinetown became world-famous after leading police to a dead body. But how come that was the only one he ever managed to locate? 

MOVE OVER, MRS BALLS! | Nettie Pikeur shares four recipes for quick and yummy chutney for when you run out of the “Mrs” kind. 

SUBSCRIBE AND WIN WINE | Subscribe in September and stand a chance to win one of 15 cases of Jan Harmsgat wines.