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20101224

Boer dairy farmer Marie Weilbach in coma, attack Walkerville

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Retired Walkerville dairy-farm owner Marie Weilbach, 79, was bashed into a coma by farm workers Mhlushwa Khoza and Mbongiseni Hornsby – who in turn were shot dead when they ambushed her grandson Eon Viljoen, Dec 22 2010 with a shotgun and a steel-pipe. 

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2010-12-23  WALKERVILLE, VEREENIGING. The supermarket chain who buys the dairy-products from 26-year-old dairy foreman Eon Viljoen has much to answer for. Their failure to pay the farm for its products has caused a chain of horrific events in which two former farm workers – angered because they did not get their Christmas bonuses in time – beat farm-owner Marie Weilbach, 79 into a braindead-coma with a steel-pipe. The two workers then were killed in turn when they waited for her grandson Villjoen in ambush and tried to kill him with a shotgun and a steelpipe…

Weilbach Marie 79 Walkerville dairy farmer beaten into coma Dec232010_by2workers_who_were_killed_by_grandson_Viljoen

Two dairy-farm workers – Mkhlushwa Khoza and Mbongiseni Hornsby - beat 79-year-old farm-owner Mrs Marie Weilbach into a braindead coma while the retired Boer dairy-farmer was watching a religious TV-programme. Both her hands were crushed from trying to ward off the blows. She’s on life-support in a Gauteng hospital – declared braindead.

Weilbach_FARMHOUSE_MARIE_TV_CHAIR_ASSAULTED_WATCHING_TV_DEC232010

Earlier this year the young Mr Viljoen had taken over management of the family-farm from his frail grandmother – its ownership dates from 1903 (from the era whenthe British colonial military forces attacked the independent Boer Republics).

Viljoen said that from the outset as its foreman, the farm had struggled to get paid for their dairy-products from their buyers.

Weilbach WalkervilleFarmMurder_VILJOEN EON GRANDSON SHOT DEAD TWO ATTACKERS

Eon Viljoen worried about the Christmas bonuses, so two weeks ago their six workers were called together and told by Viljoen that that he would not be able to pay their annual Christmas bonuses before Christmas – but also promised that they would still get the bonuses immediately after the farm got paid by the buyers in the city. They had always received their wages on time: the problem was with the bonuses…

‘You are not wearing a bulletproof vest and I am going to shoot you..’

One of the workers at the meeting then reacted very angrily, demanding his money immediately, said Viljoen. “He told me ‘you are not wearing a bullet-proof vest, and I am going to shoot you’.”

Viljoen said he then hurriedly borrowed money from a friend, called the workers together again and paid them their bonuses. However – he also fired the worker who had threatened to kill them and told the assembled workers that if this man had carried out his threat and Viljoen ‘ was no longer there to run the farm, they would all have been out of a job’.

He said a second worker then decided to quit his job as well. Then these two disgruntled workers started a campaign of terror against the remaining four farm workers and their families which got so bad that the four workers fled from their cottages to the township – one even left with his wife without getting paid. Another fleeing worker stole R800 – his last remaining cash – from Viljoen’s wallet before disappearing, he said.

His grandmother – in whose name the family farm is registered – took these threats and all these incidents very seriously and warned him to protect himself – giving him her legally-registered 9mm pistol on Tuesday-nigh (December 21, 2010), he said.

“I phoned the two workers Khoza and Hornsby on Wednesday, asking them to come to the farm so that we could find a solution to the problem,’ he said.

“They both showed up but then demanded more cash payments of R6,000 and R3,000 respectively as ‘entrenchment packages’. I told them that I didn’t have that kind of money and that they would have to contact their trade union to take the matter up with them to deal with it legally.”

Khoza and Hornsby then left the homestead and shortly thereafter, Viljoen also went outside to drive his usual rounds before stopping by a hiding-place in the stable to fetch his grandmother’s at around 18:20. He immediately wanted to give it back to her for her self-protection.

  • (Comment: I would have asked him this question: Viljoen didn’t explain to Beeld why he did not carry the gun with him on the farm, since he’d been threatened by one of the workers. What good is a gun hidden away in a cow-shed when the lives of your grandmother and yourself were clearly in danger?)

When he returned to the homestead the back door stood open, he told Beeld.

Weilbach farmhouse kitchen ShotgunBlastMissedGrandsonViljoenDec232010

“At that time of the evening my grandmother always feeds her dogs so I did not suspect anything amiss until I walked into the kitchen. The two workers, Khoza and Hornsby were waiting for me – one immediately fired a shot from a shotgun without saying a word, and I fired back at once. Both shots missed. The worker then fired again with the shotgun. Vijoen said he then shot the man with one shot to the head and as the other worker stormed towards him with a steelpipe Viljoen also shot him dead as well. The grandson then rushed inside to find his grandmother –“she is a very religious person and always sat and watched the church-channel on TV all day…’ -- and found her on her chair, her head caved-in and bloodied; critically injured. He immediately phoned the SAPS and medics from Netcare 911.

Mrs Weilbach was rushed to Sebokeng hospital where she was put on a life-support machine. She has been declared braindead, he said.

“Why didn’t they just wait for me somewhere on the farm? Why didn’t they leave my grandmother alone?” he said.

SAPS constable Makgauta Serathi said they are ‘investigating two murder-cases. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Kleinseun-skiet-twee-20101223

and

Boer foreman Jaco Kruger shot, injured on Namibia farm

Jaco Hendrik Jacobus Kruger, 30, Afrikaner farm-foreman shot, injured on Namibian farm Mbela near Hochfeld, Windhoek

Dec 23 2010 WINDHOEK. Without saying a word a suspected black wildlife poacher shot and injured a South African citizen,  farm-foreman Jaco Hendrik Jacobus Kruger on the German-owned farm Mbela near Hochfeld, Windhoek, Namibia. He is recovering after shrapnel was removed from his body at the Windhoek Catholic hospital. The bullet miraculously missed all the arteries, veins and bones. 

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 Kruger Jaco Namibian farm foreman shot in ambush Dec23 2010 SA citizen

The ‘poacher’ then roared away in a white Volkswagen Polo. The injured Boer is recovering in the Windhoek Catholic hospital.   “I had left the homestead to drive to the cottages of the workers to investigate what  I thought was a gun shot. I saw a white VW Polo parked near the intersection about 300 meters away, then I suddenly felt a tremendous impact and while driving on  to the cottages I discovered that my shirt was blood-soaked,’ Kruger said. He was alone in the homestead at the time as his  wife had left for Cape Town just a day earlier.

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Dec 23 2010 WINDHOEK. Without saying a word a suspected black wildlife poacher shot and injured a South African citizen,  farm-foreman ‘ Jaco ‘ Hendrik Jacobus Kruger on the German-owned farm Mbela near Hochfeld, Windhoek, Namibia. He is recovering after shrapnel was removed from his body at the Windhoek Catholic hospital. The bullet miraculously missed all the arteries, veins and bones.I heard no shot but just felt a tremendous blow to my shoulder and then no pain. I drove to the farm house of an employer, and there I discovered a lot of blood on my shirt,” said 30-year-old Jaco Hendrik Jacobus Kruger, speaking from his bed at the Catholic Hospital in Windhoek.

"I do not remember exactly, but on Tuesday I left the homestead at Mbela at 19.30 , because I thought I  had heard a shot," said Kruger.  When he arrived at the road junction of the C30 and D2147 public roads, he saw a white VW Polo parked about 300 meters from the crossing. Kruger stopped near the vehicle and got out of his car intending to go and speak to the driver, when he saw the black driver point a gun at him. “ I felt that I was hit and saw the car turning around and racing away," said the young Boer who is employed as a farm manager on the farm Mbela  for the company Kataneno Heiko Bindings . Kruger phoned the owners, Heini and Christa Binding, who rushed to give him first aid. Another farmer, neighbor Helma Lichtenberg and the Binding couple then took Mr Kruger to hospital.

Meanwhile, the police and neighbors were rapidly placing roadblocks and alerting residents to be on the lookout for a white VW Polo with an armed driver.

"The police reacted very quickly.  Roadblocks were thrown up along the east-side of Windhoek and the roads were patrolled with many police officers, armed with automatic carbines.  On the route between Omitara and Hosea Kutako airport, the police also set up a roadblock, " said farm owner Heiko Binding. By 9pm the police were already on the crime scene conducting the forensic examination he said. Thus far no-one was arrested. Police suspect that the gunman is armed with a .22 rifle and may have found refuge in Gobabis near Windhoek.  Meanwhile Kruger underwent surgery to remove the shrapnel. No bones were damaged and the bullet missed the arteries and nerves, the article reports: original in German on:

http://www.az.com.na/polizei-und-gericht/von-wilderern-angeschossen.119259.php

also: Poachers shooting at farmers now:  http://sun.com.na/story/poachers-shooting-farmers-now