WATCH | EFF occupies home of Eastern Cape killer Fritz Joubert, AfriForum denounces murder

The EFF has “taken over” the farm of Gonubie killer Fritz Joubert in a show of force against racism.

The latest twist occurred on Monday evening, as experts in psychiatry and traditional healing dismissed suggestions that Joubert had been “possessed” when he killed his sangoma trainer Anele Hoyana on Saturday.

Just after 5pm on Monday, EFF regional chair Mziyanda Hlekiso told the Dispatch that  800 EFF members and supporters were mobilising to occupy Joubert's farm.  

“We are taking over that house. We will occupy the house to fight racism. Racism has no place in SA and that is what we are trying to demonstrate,” he told DispatchLIVE.

Asked if he was aware that the house was a crime scene, Hlekiso said: “We will stand outside the house and wait for the police to finish the job and enter it. If it is locked we will break in. If family members are still left, we will drive them out.”

DispatchLIVE was monitoring the situation at the time of writing.

Joubert, 45, killed Hoyana during a “cleansing ceremony gone wrong” at his Geluksdal farm in Brakfontein, near Gonubie. He filmed many parts of the event and posted them on social media.

Joubert was later shot dead by a police officer during a confrontation.  

Lulama Mpahla, the provincial chair of the Eastern Cape Traditional Healing Practitioners' Forum and director of the Ithongo Institute, said Joubert's bizarre behaviour had nothing to do with being a sangoma.

“If you study the videos, you can clearly see that Fritz was under the influence. As sangomas we have an ability to see when someone has been possessed by external spirits. This one was simply drunk or high on drugs.” 

Mpahla said while disputes often arose between a trainee (umkhwetha) and his trainer (gobela), they had never escalated to murder.

He said Joubert had suddenly seen himself as being superior to his trainer, something that was extremely rare behaviour. “One also needs to check if there were no prior disputes. That may have triggered the attack,” Mpahla said.

DispatchLIVE reported on Tuesday that another possible explanation for Joubert's rampage was provided by a psychiatrist, who asked not to be named for ethical reasons. He said judging from footage posted by Joubert, the farmer appeared to have been mentally ill. “He was presenting symptoms of mental illness. His ability to differentiate between what was right and wrong had been affected. He was under some form of false belief that what he was doing was justified.”

Hoyana, a Queen's College old boy, was bludgeoned to death with a rifle butt by Joubert in front of Hoyana's terrified wife, Babalwa. Their two young children had been locked in the bathroom by Joubert.

Hoyana's brother, Olwethu Hoyana, is the owner of OHBrigado Champagne Bar in East London and a former Metro FM marketing manager. He said his family was busy with funeral arrangements for his brother, but declined to discuss the tragedy.

On social media on Sunday night, Hoyana's sister, Iviwe Tenjisiwe Hoyana, described how she had bumped into a policeman at the house rescuing her brother's children.

She said: “This time yesterday I had just run towards a policeman who had rescued my late brother's three-year-old and three-week-old from a raging white man, who had just bludgeoned my brother to death with a rifle. That racist heathen did not only hold my brother's young family hostage, but has left us, as a family, hostage emotionally.

“He deserved to die yesterday. His soul is at God's mercy. Yesterday morning was a movie I will never forget. To think that this man even took footage of his violent rampage and attack towards my brother. He was our neighbour for years and yet he had such deep hate for black people. [That] is what sends chills down my spine.”

In one of the videos posted by Joubert before he was killed by police warrant officer Hendrick Odendaal, Joubert  is armed with a knobkerrie, yelling gibberish at Hoyana, who is kneeling with his baby in his arms.

Joubert shouts: “I am going to punish you.” In various social media posts Joubert continually referred to himself as the “God chosen one” and to Hoyana as “Satan”.

Joubert was no stranger to controversy. His former neighbour, Victor Badenhorst, 75, said he felt forced to sell his Shadeview Valley farm and flee after receiving death threats. Over seven years, the two neighbours opened 30 cases against each other at the Gonubie police station.

The Dispatch documented their conflict from 2010, when Joubert cut through Badenhorst's fence and opened an access road though the farm without Badenhorst's permission. Joubert held large, noisy, all-night parties, opened fire in his direction and shot dead his dogs, Badenhorst said.

Eastern Cape provincial police spokesperson Brig Thembinkosi Kinana said two guns were recovered from the scene and would be tested.