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20091215

How could anyone not stop a child from being torched?

 

Adriana Stuijt

Zenzenina* – what was her ‘sin’ except the colour of her skin?

Orange Farm white girl torched Sketch Det Mike van Aardt1 This poor murdered child haunts me. She died all alone, torched to death in a township surrounded by nothing but enemies -- whatever had been this young girl's sin to die such a cruel death, except the colour of her skin?

She no doubt suffered terribly: fully aware,  alive, she was set alight and was still burning when a 'passerby' just happened to 'see a burning body.'  Imagine it: in a crowded township with tens of thousands of people, only one person notified the police. And of course nobody saw anything at all of the event itself.

Are human torches such a ordinary event in this township that nobody even pays any attention to such human suffering?  

Now she's on a mortuary slab – unclaimed, unknown --  with her torso and limbs twisted and blackened, and only one hand and her blonde strands identified her as having been a white girl. Imagine this murder scenario in any suburb anywhere else in the world-- would decent citizens just stand by and let a child be burnt to death in front of their eyes and then not alert the authorities, not even try to save her life?

What kind of people are those who allowed this to happen? And then the conspiracy of silence which followed, with the police saying they had 'seen no suspicious vehicles.' Exactly what is that, a 'suspicious vehicle" anyway? What kind of cops are those, that they didn't immediately mount a huge door-to-door search throughout the area for witnesses?

Somewhere, this blonde girl with size-4 shoes must have parents or siblings who must be looking for her?

Capt Mike van Aardt, a top SA detective has now taken up her case.  And he’s known for his extraordinary skills in finding the killers. Anyone with information about her possible identity - or anyone searching for a missing female relative -- is urged to call the investigating SAPS detective, Capt Mike Van Aardt on telephone 0 082 575 1808

This very young girl, described as white, blonde hair with pink-dyed streaks, wearing a pair of blue jeans and sideway-striped multicolour t-shirt, with well-manicured toe- and fingernails, size-4 shoes and 34-A bra, was torched to death while she was still alive on November 16 2009 alongside the Welgevonden road in Orange Farm squatter camp between 4 am and 5am. A passerby notified the police that ‘there was a body burning alongside the roadway. ‘

Police forensic experts believe she was between 15 and 20 years of age, no older. Anyone with information about her possible identity - or anyone searching for a missing female relative -- is urged to call the investigating SAPS detective, Capt Mike Van Aardt on telephone 0 082 575 1808  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1026941238#/photo.php?pid=30852624&id=1026941238&ref=mf

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Video – The ANC-freedom struggle frequently used torching as ‘punishment for sell-outs.’ On this video, shot by a Dutch TV-crew, a black girl was torched to death amidst screams of ‘Viva Mandela Viva’. One can only hope that this girl in Orange Farm did not undergo the same ‘treatment’ – the details of her death are still too sketchy to know…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf39waktLVQ

*Zenzenina what have we done? a struggle song of the ANC: This is a protest song ands traditionally sung at funerals. It was important during the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Senzenina means “What have we done” with the implication “what did we do to deserve this?” (Also spelled “senzeni na”.) Here you can see the original lyrics, with an English translation  MP3 Recording of Senzenina

Eye surgeon’s eyes gouged by attackers

Dr Marius Pretorius ‘may never have normal vision again'

Pretorius Marius top SA eye surgeon attackers tried to gouge out his eyes Vereeniging 20091206

Vereeniging – Dec 15 2009 – One of South Africa’s pioneer-eye surgeons -- who for 21 years was president of the International Southern African Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery -- never be able to see normally again after a brutal attack in which the gang tried to gouge out his eyes, reports Louise Cook.

Marius Pretorius, 70, and his wife Lien, 68, were overpowered in their Vereeniging flat last week by three men armed with guns and knives.  They tied up both victims with rope and ties, before trying to strangle Mrs Pretorius.

The couple's daughter, Hannelie Warren, told Beeld newspaper on Monday that they tried to gouge out her dad's eyes. The attackers apparently said they didn’t want him to see again and identify them to the police.

"One attacker sat on my dad's back and smoked a cigarette while he was tied down.  My dad has horrific injuries - he may never have normal vision again." 

Repaired crime-victim’s eyes several weeks earlier:

The Pretoria News report quoted Mrs Warren as saying that ‘just weeks earlier he had treated someone whose eyes had been damaged in a house robbery. A robber had apparently tried to gouge the patient's eye with a pool cue. He had operated (on the patient) and was so chuffed because he was able to get to all the muscles," explained Warren.

The men found the couple's walk-in safe and took money before they triggered an alarm. The three men, all dressed in black, then made their escape. When he realised that the robbers had left, Pretorius was able to slam the door shut and, calling for his wife, began leopard-crawling towards the bedroom. "At this time, both my mother and my father thought that each of the other was dead," Warren said.

In the bedroom, Pretorius was able to untie his wife and hand her the telephone.
"My mom said that she had never seen anything like this, there was so much blood."

Warren said the robber had ripped Pretorius's eyelids off but that his cornea had not been damaged. His right eye was more damaged than the left, she said.

Pioneered a cataract operation:

Pretorius is a well-known ophthalmologist who, Warren told the Pretoria News,  had pioneered a cataract operation. "The support from other ophthalmologists has been phenomenal. Some have flown out to see my father" said Warren.

Pretorius is in the Emfuleni Medi-Clinic and was operated on last week, when his eyelids were repaired. But doctors will only know next month if his sight will be restored. An MRI scan was preformed on Pretorius on Saturday and Warren said that one of the detached muscles could be seen. This has given the family hope that his eyes might be saved.

'Severely traumatised' 
Warren told Beeld newspaper that her parents were severely traumatised and receiving counselling.

No arrests have been made and Warren accused the police of dragging their feet. Pretorius, speaking from the Emfuleni Medi-Clinic in Vanderbijlpark, said on Monday evening that since the attack almost six days ago, police had not interviewed him about what had happened. "They only spoke to my wife. No one has been to ask me any questions," he said.

'This is appalling'
Warren said people in the building where the attack had taken place and who saw the attackers before and after the incident had also not been approached by police in a bid to gather any evidence."This is appalling," she added.

Captain Shado Mashobane of the Vereeniging police station confirmed that no arrests had been made, but said the investigation was underway.Warren said they had been flooded with e-mails and phone calls of support from ophthalmologists in the UK, US, Australia, China, Canada, Hungary and Hawaii.

sources:

http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/99f8ec036115424ea9f00c59aa271942/15-12-2009-07-46/Eye_surgeons_eyes_gouged

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20091215043949443C450654

http://www.sascrs.org.za/

Pretorius Marius top SA eye surgeon eyes gouged by attackers Dec62009

Eye surgeon’s eyes gouged by attackers

Dr Marius Pretorius ‘may never have normal vision again'

Pretorius Marius top SA eye surgeon attackers tried to gouge out his eyes Vereeniging 20091206

Vereeniging – Dec 15 2009 – One of South Africa’s top eye surgeons -- who for 21 years was president of the International Intraocular Society --  might never be able to see normally again after a brutal attack in which the gang tried to gouge out his eyes, reports Louise Cook.

Marius Pretorius, 70, and his wife Lien, 68, were overpowered in their Vereeniging flat last week by three men armed with guns and knives.  They tied up both victims with rope and ties, before trying to strangle Mrs Pretorius. It’s not known from this report whether anything was robbed in the attack.

The couple's daughter, Hannelie Warren, said on Monday they tried to gouge out her dad's eyes. The attackers apparently said they didn’t want him to see again and identify them to the police.

"One attacker sat on my dad's back and smoked a cigarette while he was tied down.  My dad has horrific injuries - he may never have normal vision again." 

'Severely traumatised'
Warren said Pretorius was still in hospital. The muscles behind his eyes were damaged and specialists aren't sure whether the muscles will recover sufficiently for him to have normal vision again. Warren said her parents were severely traumatised and receiving counselling.

No arrests have been made and Warren accused the police of dragging their feet. Pretorius, speaking from the Emfuleni Medi-Clinic in Vanderbijlpark, said on Monday evening that since the attack almost six days ago, police had not interviewed him about what had happened. "They only spoke to my wife. No one has been to ask me any questions," he said.


'This is appalling'
Warren said people in the building where the attack had taken place and who saw the attackers before and after the incident had also not been approached by police in a bid to gather any evidence."This is appalling," she added.

Captain Shado Mashobane of the Vereeniging police station confirmed that no arrests had been made, but said the investigation was underway.Warren said they had been flooded with e-mails and phone calls of support from ophthalmologists in the UK, US, Australia, China, Canada, Hungary and Hawaii. http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/99f8ec036115424ea9f00c59aa271942/15-12-2009-07-46/Eye_surgeons_eyes_gouged