Herbert Jacobus van Niekerk

Herbert van Niekerk (1966 - 1993)

Brief overview:

Herbert (27), from Wesselsbron, was shot and killed by APLA members in an armed attack on the Sentra Hyperserve supermarket at Wesselsbron, Orange Free State, on 3 July 1993.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
  • Five people were killed and four were wounded in the attack.
    • Machiel Andries Sparkham (29)
    • George Christiaan Kleynhans (50)
    • Herbert Jacobus van Niekerk (27)
    • Johannes Arnoldus Lourens (41)
    • Maria Fatima Agrella de Castro (27)
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • During the early 1990s, the PAC proclaimed a military strategy of a 'protracted people's war', which involved the infiltration of APLA guerrillas into the country to conduct rural guerrilla warfare. The initial targets of such attacks were members of the security forces and white farmers who were perceived to be the frontline of defence for the former apartheid government. A 'repossession unit' was also set up, in which APLA cells conducted armed robberies on the instructions of the APLA High Command to raise funds and/or obtain weapons and vehicles to enable APLA to carry out its military strategy. Civilians were killed or injured in many of these robberies. In 1993, attacks on civilians increased sharply with a series of high-profile attacks by APLA cadres on public places, including restaurants, hotels and bars, in urban areas. These were usually, but not always, places frequented by white civilians. The PAC/APLA claimed that the attacks were not racist in character, but directed against the apartheid government as all whites, according to the PAC, were complicit in the policy of apartheid.
  • The 1993 attack on the St James' Church, Kenilworth, Cape Town, produced the highest number of casualties, with 11 people dead and 58 injured."
    • https://archive.is/IpRyW
    • https://archive.is/zUwM8

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
  • Six APLA members were granted amnesty (AC/2000/250)

Additional Biographical Information:

• Identity Number : Identity Number : 6604085160086
• Official cause of death : Unnatural death

Links to Media articles:

• http://www.plaasaanvalle.co.za/Moorde.xls (broken link)