The taxi driver who shot and killed Andre Duvenhage (52) and his son Danie at the Viva N1 petrol station in Bandelierkop, Limpopo on 28 May 2021 is scot-free after the NPA decided not to charge him with any crime.
The shooting happened after Danie and Andre went to the Engen petrol station to confront the taxi driver because of his bad driving after cutting in before Danie earlier whilst Danie was driving with his car on the N1, together with his fiancée and 2 year old son.
Danie also called his father who stayed nearby to come to the garage so that he was not alone.
Danie and his father got involved in an argument with the taxi driver at the garage but it could not have been their intention to attack or harm the taxi driver because they were in public and the garage is situated next to the Police station.
The taxi driver pulled out a gun and shot both Danie and Andre dead. He also shot himself in the leg. The taxi driver was admitted to a hospital in Louis Trichardt.
It has now come to light that the taxi driver was never arrested and charged by the Police for any crime.
When approached by the media the spokesperson of the NPA in Limpopo said the Director of Public Prosecutions in Limpopo has decided that no criminal charges and prosecution will be brought against the taxi driver.
The NPA director in the province has instead decided to open a formal inquest, a process which is only used when it is not clear exactly in which manner the victims died.
The magistrates court in Louis Trichardt must now do the inquest and communicate their findings back to the NPA. This process normally takes years to conclude.
Amanda van Wyk, Danie’s mother, told the media that she suspects that the taxi driver is being protected by friends in the Police and NPA.
ANALYSIS:
It is not even in dispute that the NPA, with their 90% or more black staff, discriminates on the basis of race when it comes to prosecutorial decisions and other responsibilities like the granting of bail etc. We have now seen multiple times that the NPA jumped at the chance to charge a white person, deny bail and throw the whole prosecutorial book at them, whether they are guilty of any crime or not.
We only have to look at the Coligny and Pampoenkraal (#Dirkiesdorp) cases to know this.
At the moment a farmer from Dundee in KZN, Garth Simpson, is being held without bail after an incident where a young African male, Qiniso Dlamini, attacked Simpson after Simpson asked Dlamini to remove cattle that was illegally grazing on his farm.
A shot from Simpson’s shotgun went off whilst he was being attacked which killed Dlamini. Simpson’s version is supported by a video which was made of the incident yet the NPA in KZN is intent to prosecute Simpson for murder and keep him in jail without bail even though he is 71 years old and definitely not a flight risk.
Mr Piet Kleynhans (62), a farmer from Ventersburg in the Free State, and his foreman Etienne Meyer (44) are also currently being held in the cells without bail after an incident in which Kleynhans shot dead five dogs belonging to black illegal dog hunters who had no right to be on Mr Kleynhans’s farm.
Mr Kleynhans was notified by a traffic officer that black men are hunting in his wildlife game camp with dogs last Saturday morning 16 October.
Kleynhans did go to report the shooting at the police station but whilst he was there the illegal dog hunters also arrived at the police station and alleged that they were standing between the dogs when Mr Kleynhans shot the dogs. None of them had any injury.
Dog hunting is a cruel blood sport in which the vicious street dogs of black hunters are used to roam any field that doesnt belong to them and the dogs then hunt and kill any animal that moves. The dogs are not given food before the hunt and they rip pieces of flesh from the animals they hunt.
Not only is dog hunting cruel but it is totally illegal and makes a mockery of the concept of private property because the dog hunters go where they want and trespass where they want. They also cause a lot of damage to farmers because farmers lose a lot of wildlife and livestock in this way.
Farmers are reporting illegal dog hunting but the Police don’t regard this as a crime and never do anything or even respond to investigate complaints.
Jan van Niekerk, the leader of the VF+ in the Free State and himself a farmer, has told the media that illegal dog hunting is going to destroy commercial farming if it carries on unchecked.
When Mr Kleynhans and Mr Meyer appeared in court on Tuesday there was a group of black protesters holding up placards and asking for bail to be denied.
One placard read : ” The lives of our dogs are more important. To hell with white people.
The placards made no mention of the cruelty of their dog hunting methods, the fact that they trespass on private property or that they cause huge damage wherever they go.
Read: Road rage: Andrew Duvenhage and son fatally shot by taxi driver, Bandelierkop
