An 18-year-old white man appeared in court on Thursday in connection with an alleged shooting spree that left four black people dead and raised racial tensions.
Johan Nel appeared in the Swartruggens Magistrates Court in the largely rural North-West Province. His case was postponed to Jan. 24 for further investigation. He was not asked to enter a plea.
Nel is accused of entering the Skieklik informal settlement on Monday and shooting dead three people, including a three-month-old baby and a 10-year-old boy. A fourth victim died in the hospital. Nine people were wounded.
Police have cautioned against attributing the incident to racism, fearing violence after angry residents barricaded the entrance to the settlement on Wednesday.
But many see the incident as another racial attack in a country still grappling with its apartheid past.
"Tell us why this young boy decided to kill only black people," the Congress of South African Trade Unions demanded in a statement.
A small group of protesters gathered outside the court on Thursday chanting slogans such as "kill that dog" and "let him hang," the South African Press Association reported.
"The most horrific thing that has happened is that [while] we are fighting racism throughout, white residents ... white South Africans, didn't even come here to show their solidarity," ANC member of Parliament and Swartruggens resident Patrick Chauke told the South African Press Association.
Dramatic details have emerged in the past few days of how Nel, wearing camouflage gear and carrying a rifle, allegedly began firing on a group of children as he took a path through the settlement.
Baby Keditlotse died while wrapped on her mother's back. Her mother, Annah, is in the hospital fighting for her life.
Witnesses told local media that the silent shooter paused only to reload before eventually stopping and disappearing in the chaos.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
Sri Lanka’s fragile economic recovery could be hampered by threatened trade union strikes over reduced benefits for government employees in this year’s budget, the IMF said yesterday. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s maiden budget raised public sector salaries, but also made deep cuts to longstanding perks in a continuing effort to repair the island nation’s tattered finances. Sri Lanka’s main doctors’ union is considering a strike from today to protest against cuts to their allowances, while teachers are also considering stoppages. IMF senior mission chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said the budget was the “last big push” for the country’s austerity
RSS