Gert Jacobus van der Merwe

Gert Jacobus van der Merwe (1923 - 1999)

Brief overview:

Gert (73), and his wife Francina Cornelia van der Merwe "Fransie" (71) lived on a plot in Rietvallei, Naboomspruit. On Sunday 28th February 1999 the Van der Merwe's had been to church and returned home around 20:00. Mrs. van der Merwe got out of the car.

While Mr. Van der Merwe was parking the car in the shed one of the attackers ran up to him and shot him twice, in the shoulder and chest. Then his throat was slit. Francina was assaulted and raped, and then her throat was also slit.

There were two attackers - Phineas Sibanda (22), worked for them and the other, Morris Ncube (29), employed by their neighbour. Both employees were illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe. Earlier in the day while the van der Merwe's were out, the two perpetrators, and a third person broke into the homestead by climbing through the roof. They cut the telephone wire, ransacked the house and stole clothing, jewellery, video machine and a revolver, which they hid in the bushes nearby. They then waited for the couple to return.

Sibanda and Ncube were arrested - Sibanda was arrested in Zimbabwe on 9 March 1999 and Ncube was arrested on 11 March 1999, also in Zimbabwe. They had a large quantity of the stolen articles in their possession. Ncube told the police that Sibanda had insisted that they kill the woman so that they could not be identified. They were tried in the High Court from 1 to 7 March 2000, and convicted on two counts of murder, for which life imprisonment was imposed, as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances, for which they received 12 years. Sibanda was also convicted of rape and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

• Identity Number : 2602095058088
• Official cause of death : Intra abdominal injury

Comments by the "Committee of Inquiry into Farm Attacks", 2003:

• This is one of the few cases with overt political elements, viz. the message left by the attackers. However, the prosecutor told the Committee that there was no political motive behind the attack.
• This was confirmed by the investigating officer. The accused told him that the comments on the piece of cardboard found after the attack had been intended to mislead the police so that they would be looking for the culprits in Johannesburg.
• It is a typical case where the attackers broke into the house on a Sunday while the inhabitants were away attending church. The attackers waited for the victims so that they could get more money from them.
• The victims were probably killed to prevent identification.
• The Zimbabwean police gave their full co-operation in tracing and arresting the accused and in the subsequent extradition.
• Taking into account that the accused had to be extradited from Zimbabwe, the case was heard fairly quickly, some 13 months after the event.

Links to Media articles:

• https://africacheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Final-Report-Com...
• https://www.yumpu.com/nl/document/read/4451339/laai-af-die-lys-van-...
• https://archive.is/KaTTx