Skierlik accused's day in court

ARMED with a .303 rifle and more than 100 rounds of ammunition, a crazed white gunman blasted racial harmony to pieces in a small town in North West earlier this year.

Today, the man accused of having taken the lives of four black people, two of them young children, will finally go on trial.

Ten months after the massacre, Johan Nel, 19, will face 17 charges in the Mmabatho High Court, in Mafikeng.

Nel, who is alleged to have gone on the rampage in the small township of Skierlik, outside Swartruggens in North West, on January 14 this year, is facing four counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder, one of illegal possession of a firearm, one of illegal possession of ammunition and one of malicious damage to property.

Apart from the deaths and injuries to the innocent in January this year, the actions of the killer have cast racial tensions into the spotlight.

The country was shocked by the incident, the first in a series of events that have re-opened the wounds of our historically divided past.

Other incidents that sparked cries of racism this year included the infamous Reitz video, in which a group of students at the University of the Free State were shown apparently urinating on food given to black staff members, and the alleged racist abuse of a black woman at an international rugby match in Johannesburg.

The prosecution will this week try to prove that Nel drove to the Skierlik settlement, about 10 minutes from Swartruggens, parked his father's bakkie next to the main road and then walked into the township, brandishing the .303 rifle and carrying 125 rounds of ammunition.

As he walked through the settlement, his indictment reads, Nel opened fire on anything and everything in sight.

Residents ducked for cover and tried desperately to flee, but four lay dead when the shooting was over.

Sivuyile Peyi, 37, Annah Ikgopoleng Moiphitlhi, 31, her two-month-old baby daughter, Keditlhotse Elizabeth Moiphitlhi, and 10-year-old Enoch Matshelanoka were killed in the rampage and 10 others were wounded.

The charge sheet further alleges that Nel, after firing more than 100 rounds, then approached local farmer Charles Henning and asked for more bullets.

When this request was denied, the accused allegedly shot and killed an ostrich belonging to Henning, presumably out of spite.

He was arrested after seeking shelter at another farm. The farmer took him to the Swartruggens police station, where he handed himself over.

During Nel's appearances in the local magistrate's court, hundreds of protestors bayed for his blood.

He then spent a month at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, where doctors found he was fit to stand trial.

He appeared defiant throughout his court appearances, occasionally giving photographers the thumbs-up sign and grinning at the relatives of his alleged victims.

The case has attracted intense national and international media attention.

The secretary in North West of trade union federation Cosatu, Solly Phetoe, said its members will protest outside the Mmabatho High Court for the duration of the trial.