Two farmers in North West dock after a body was found in their bakkie; third man hands himself to police

File picture: IOL

File picture: IOL

Published Sep 19, 2023

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Two men who were found with the body of a man in their bakkie appeared in the Brits Magistrate's Court in the North West on Tuesday.

North West South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Funani, said the case against Louis Coetzee, 47, and Jaco Kemp, 45, was postponed to September 26 for formal bail application.

Funani said a  third man who was linked to this case handed himself to the police in Brits on Tuesday morning.

"The third suspect who was arrested this morning (Tuesday) is expected to appear before Brits Magistrate's Court tomorrow (on Wednesday)."

The farmers are charged with the murder of 45-year-old Dumisani Phakathi.

Assen police arrested Coetzee and Kemp on Sunday in Kameeldrift along the R511 road outside Brits.

She said, according to information, the police were conducting routine patrols at about 2am when they saw a suspicious charcoal Nissan NP 200 bakkie and made a U-turn to chase the vehicle.

They managed to pull the vehicle over and eventually conduct a search.

They discovered the lifeless body of Phakathi covered with plastic bags at the back of the vehicle.

The men tried to run away but were arrested.

"Reports suggest that the suspects allegedly assaulted the man who was on their farm to fetch water."

In 2017, Tebogo Ndlovu, 24, of Majakaneng, south of Brits, went missing without a trace.

He was last seen running away from a farm in Mooinooi.

Ndlovu and two of his friends reportedly went to the farm to scavenge for scrap metal, but the farmer's son, Matthew Benson, saw them.

He chased them and allegedly shot Ndlovu; the other two escaped unharmed.

Benson was arrested, and the High Court in Pretoria acquitted him.

IOL