Two more brutal murders have been reported near the Valley Farms area, bringing the death total on Saturday night to four people killed in cold blood within hours of one another.
New information has revealed the bodies of two men were found mere hours after the gruesome slaying of a local teacher, Annemarie Botha (65), and her son, Ruan Brits (36), who had been living with mental disability.
Bossies Community Justice’s Albert Gryvenstein said reports indicated the body of a badly beaten man was found in the KaNyamazane area an hour or two after the bodies of Botha and Brits had been discovered.
A second man was also found dead later in the same area on Saturday night, with what appeared to be wounds inflicted by a panga.
A police source, who could not be named as he is not authorised to speak to the press, confirmed the murders of the two men in addition to the Valley Farms murders.
The source said the murders of the two men had been equally brutal and that investigations were under way. It is unclear at this stage whether the four murders are all connected.
Gryvenstein said he and the police were working around the clock to solve them.
The murder of Botha and Brits occurred on Saturday evening at Valley Farms, a mere hour after Botha had left a neighbour’s house where she had had cake and coffee in celebration of the neigbour’s birthday.
Reports indicate mother and son had been beaten and stabbed at their residence while her husband, Fanie Botha, was out patrolling the farm as part of his job as a sectional manager.
Fanie was on high alert as two separate burglaries had occurred on the farm earlier in the week. In one of these burglaries, it was reported that his lawn mower had been stolen.
It is believed that the the murder was a home robbery gone wrong.
“The police are investigating the matter and the preliminary investigation revealed that several items were stolen from the house,” the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Vusi Shongwe, said in a statement.
When Fanie arrived back from his patrols on Saturday evening, he walked into his house to find it ransacked. After calling out for his wife, he found her and his stepson in a pool of blood on the lounge floor.
The two were later declared dead on the scene. Brits apparently died trying to protect his mother, as his body had been found draped over her in a protective position.
Fanie’s cousin and the family spokesperson, Jaap Breedt, told Lowvelder it was clear from the scene that Annemarie had put up a fight.
“Tables and furniture had been pushed over and the pool cues were broken in half.”
The police, local security organisations and community members arrived at the scene around 18:30 to gather evidence.
However, it seems law enforcement may have hit a dead end. Despite the massive manhunt launched by the SAPS and local security companies, the Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Col Donald Mdhluli, confirmed that no arrests have yet been made.
The police told the family on the scene that ample fingerprints and other leads had been discovered. The post-mortems on the mother and son started on Monday.
Gryvenstein said he had been working on the case, assisting police and spending his own resources in the hopes of catching the culprits.
He said there was some concern, seeing as the double murder had occurred on Saturday and by Tuesday afternoon, no suspects had been identified.
“Everyone has been working around the clock on this. We still don’t have anything concrete, but we are hoping that through tireless investigation and work, we will catch a break in this case and apprehend those responsible.”
Operating off less than 10 hours sleep since Saturday evening, Gryvenstein is still on the ground, collecting information and evidence that could give the family some closure.
He added that anyone with information regarding the attack should call him on 082-567-5212.
Annemarie was a teacher at the Calvary Assembly and Christian School in Mbombela. She was described by several sources as a loving, soft woman who “wouldn’t even hurt a fly”.
Ruan, one of Annemarie’s two sons from a previous marriage, had mental disabilities and had resided in the Wenakker Intellectually Disabled Adult Centre in Lydenburg for the past 18 years.
He only visited Annemarie and Fanie on weekends.
Due to his speech impediment, Ruan did not speak often. According to family members, one of the few things he could say was “mamma”.
A flower ceremony was held at the gate of Valley Farms on Monday to remember the victims.
A sign reading Stop Farm Murders was displayed on the fence so that those driving past could see.
“We have to show these people that we aren’t scared of them,” said Kobus Badenhorst, a neighbour and the farm manager, as he addressed the large crowd of mourners.
Breedt said “things can’t go on like this”, referring to farm murders. “Those who knew her will know what happened here is incomprehensible. Nothing makes sense.”
According to a 2019 study done by AfriForum, farm murders in Mpumalanga account for nine per cent of the national total.
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