Coligny Goes Up in Flames

Race riots have broken out in the small town of Coligny, suggesting that the dire predictions of the old apartheid theorists are coming true. In the 1980s, a stable and segregated South Africa had to be shaken from the outside by major powers, which applied economic sanctions and supported terrorism. The current “integrated and democratic” state is destroying itself.

The initial spark triggering the racial polarization in Coligny — a small corn-producing town 200 kilometers west of Johannesburg — was the death of a black youth, Matlhamola Jonas Mosweu. He died on April 20 from a broken neck. Depending on whom you believe, he was the victim either of vicious whites or of his own foolishness. You could call him South Africa’s Trayvon Martin.

Initial media reports of a “black boy killed by white farmers” put his age at 12. For a whole week no one knew his name, since his parents had not noticed his disappearance. Then his age rose to 16, with some reports claiming he was 17.

Blacks in Coligny started rioting on April 25, before Mosweu’s name was known or the circumstances of his death established. Blacks looted and burned the liquor store, a hotel, and several white homes. A 45-year-old Coligny resident, Diana Swart, recounted on video how a group of 200 knife-wielding blacks demanded gasoline from her, which they used to burn down her house with her dogs inside. She had been involved in local projects to help black children and had made clothes for them.

Several days later, the South African Police Service tried to calm blacks by announcing the arrest of two white farm employees, Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte. The liberal media in Johannesburg, the country’s commercial capital, trumpeted “white racism” as the cause of Mosweu’s death.

The two bearded Afrikaner men say they caught Mosweu and another young black stealing sunflowers from the field of their employer. They say they were taking him to the police station when Mosweu jumped off their moving bakkie (the South African term for a pick-up truck) and broke his neck. Thefts of both produce and livestock from farms by blacks are rampant in South Africa, and have driven white farmers into bankruptcy.

Tensions rose further on May 7 at Mosweu’s funeral, which, because of its racial overtones, attracted high-profile speakers. Supra Mahumapelo, the premier of North West Province in which Coligny is located, said:

I have a problem with white superiority in this country. White people continue to control the land and the banks. We are going to call all the white people and tell them they are visitors in this country.

Another black leader, Mxolisi Bomvana of the teachers’ union Sadtu (South African Democratic Teachers Union), said:

I don’t think what happened is the will of God. It is the racists of our time. [Mosweu] is gone because a racist decided to kill a black person.

Another speaker, Packet Seakotso from Sanco (South African National Civics Organisation), urged blacks to assemble at the municipal building the next day to pressure the magistrate not to grant bail to the defendants. “We are closing the roads in an effort to oppose bail,” he said.

Earlier, a white magistrate, Wikus van Loggerenberg, recused himself from the case “in the interests of justice” and because, as a resident of Coligny, he feared for his family’s safety. The bail hearing for the two whites was therefore presided over by a black magistrate, Magaola Foso. Black crowds demanded that the men be held without bail.

The South African justice system is marred by growing corruption, as well as the influence of the anti-white ultra-liberalism of our top court, the Constitutional Court. It was therefore a tribute to judicial impartiality when, on May 8, the black magistrate granted bail of R5000 (about $400) to each of the accused.

Blacks ignored the Magistrate Foso’s explanation in court that the state’s case against the accused was weak, that the defendants had no previous convictions, and that the legal system and constitution required him to grant bail. He released Mr. Doorewaard and Mr. Schutte on condition that they leave town and go into hiding with relatives or friends elsewhere in the country.

The release set off a new round of riots. Blacks torched three more homes and farms, including the house of Coligny’s white doctor, a benevolent Afrikaner man who had treated all races, sometimes without payment. A mob looted the house before setting fire to it.

Journalists from the media, which had been spreading false and incomplete information about Mosweu’s death for weeks, descended on the town and cheerfully reported on the rioting and arson, until an irate farmer manhandled a photographer. This set off media hysteria about the “threat to press freedom” in Coligny.

During the night of May 8, marauding black youths tried to attack farmhouses around Coligny, but by this time the Afrikaner population district had formed a citizens’ militia with the help of volunteers from elsewhere in the country. Militia promptly answered calls for help from farms via WhatsApp and other social media, and chased off gangs of blacks. Burning barricades on roads were removed during the night, and by the next day militia groups reported that things had more or less returned to normal. It remains to be seen whether further developments in the case will set off more rioting.

The whole of South Africa is a tinderbox; riots or protests are a daily occurrence. Official police statistics show that incidents of “violent unrest” have increased by 188% over the past 5 years.

As reported by a local news site, Times Live:

Cases of violent unrest have surged from 1‚226 in the 2011/12 reporting year‚ to 3‚542 in 2015/16‚ according to the latest crime statistics. The number of peaceful protests also increased‚ from 10‚832 to 11‚151 over the same period.

Every day, therefore, South Africa has an average of 31 protests, of which approximately one third turn violent, which means there are about 10 riots, large or small, every day! On Monday, May 8, while Coligny was burning, blacks from the suburb of Eldorado Park brought southern access to Johannesburg to a halt. Rioters had hijacked a truck loaded with gravel and emptied it onto the freeway. They also barricaded other roads, effectively blocking off the whole area from the rest of the sprawling city.

In imitation of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, South Africa’s black rulers are fomenting anti-white race hatred and calling for the confiscation of white farms and other assets. Unlike the ex-Rhodesian whites who could flee south across our border, Afrikaners have no refuge. Mrs. Merkel invites Muslims into her country but would not welcome white South African Christians — nor would most other Western leaders, for that matter. We will have to stand our ground and fight.

The events in Coligny are a wake-up call to those complacent South African whites who are still mesmerized by their pay-TV screens on which they watch rugby matches or Hollywood movies. That make-believe world will soon make way before the harsh reality of a South Africa which is more and more resembling the 19th century, when battles between the pioneering Voortrekkers and black tribes were common. Even liberal commentators here admit that a low-intensity race war has already started.