PODCAST | The Skierlik massacre — 15 years on

Eighteen-year-old Johan Nel was well known in Skierlik, an informal settlement near Swartruggens in the North West. The young man would visit the community regularly to sell chickens he reared on his parents’ Swartruggens smallholding.

So on January 14 2008, when Nel pulled his father’s bakkie up to the local spaza shop, got out and started walking through the streets of Skierlik, his presence would not have been unusual.

On that day though, Nel was not there to sell poultry. He carried his father’s rifle with him and by the time he was finished, four people — including two children — lay dead and scores more were seriously injured.

Listen here: 

The reasoning behind Nel’s horrific actions that day would become a matter of debate in the months and years to come, but for the victims his motive didn’t matter. No matter what delusion had driven Nel that day, it had the same devastating result.

In episode 102 of True Crime South Africa, we explore this racially motivated crime and ponder the reality of race relations in the area in the context of how the media had presented it and how it may have contributed to this crime.  

For more episodes, click here.

Community Intervention Centre (24-hour trauma helpline): 082-821-3447

Join the conversation on Twitter at #TrueCrimeSA

E-mail the show: info@killeraudiocreations.com  

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