Jacobus "Koos" Petrus Ward

Jacobus "Koos" Ward (1922 - 1992)

Brief overview:

Jacobus "koos" (70), and and his daughter Emmerentia "Ammie" Cornelia Ward (30), were shot dead by a gang of PAC members on 21st December 1992 on Farm Emmaus in Theunissen, Free State.

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
  • Extract from the Transcript TRC 14th June 2000 hearing

"Lungelo Mbandazayo, representing Pabelo Ernest Pudumo, H L Gqomfa and others

Application number: AM6634/97 MATTER: ATTACK ON A FARM IN THEUNISSEN - Emmie C, WArd (22) and Jacobus P. Ward ‘Koos’ (70) - 21st December 1992.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Now can you come to the incident of the 21st of December 1992 and tell the Committee what happened. Who planned this attack and who came up with this idea and why?

MR PUDUMO: It was in the morning in 1992, Rasta Moloto came to me, he said to me: "Man, there's an attack that we should carry out. This attack will take place in Theunissen" and he organised everything and I asked him: "Seeing that you have already planned the attack, where did you take the order from? Where did you take this idea from?" and he said because he had been given orders, he has the responsibility. We planned that attack, but he was the leader in this whole issue. It was in 1992 on the 20th when we did the reconnaissance. It was the two of us. When we arrived we discovered that the area needed more than two people. He said he will then look for the other two people and I should organise transport in the meantime. We went back to Virginia and I looked into the transport issue and he came about with two people. The names of the two people that were joining were Potsotso and Johannes Leabe.

MR PUDUMO: The taxi owner said he wanted us to pay R50 to take us to that place and I said to him: "Yes, I will give you the money" and indeed we took a trip.

Before arriving at the place of the attack, we stopped the car and we told him to turn back, not to reach the place where we were going to and I asked my Commander the reason for that. He told me: "These people are here to assist us, they were not trained, they are just here to assist us with taking whatever we will repossess" and he gave an order that the car should turn back and these people should remain here and the two of us went ahead and he gave them an order, he said: "You stand here, you wait here until we tell you to go back or to come and assist us carry the things we are supposed to take."

When we arrived at the place, we got into a farm. When we arrived at the farm, we found a girl working at that farm. I knocked at the door. When this girl came out, Rasta Moloto talked to her, he said to her he wanted to see the white man. This girl went into the house to call the white man. Rasta Moloto said to him: "Listen man, you have nothing to say, I am in command here". I asked what the reason for that, what if these people they were many people, and he said to me: "The language used here is Afrikaans."

The white man approached. I did not understand what they were talking further but after a few minutes I noticed a white woman coming out of the door. After her a dog came out. She tried to stop it, she tried to take it back into the house but it refused, it went outside. When the white man came out, my commander prepared a firearm to get into the house. He gave me an order at that stage. He said: "Man, you must be aware now, we are fighting".

On our way to this place, we had two firearms. I had a 38 with me and he had a .22. Indeed I waited outside, he got into the house pointing a gun at the white woman. I was left outside with this man. The woman was making noise to alert the people inside that there was something going on outside. After a few minutes when they were inside, I heard gunshots. The white man left me at the door. When he got inside, I noticed that I was now left on my own. I managed to shoot at him when he was quite a distance ahead of me. When I looked in front of me, the person who was with me was already shot, he was lying down there. I went to fetch him from where he had fallen. Luckily he had a gunshot wound, but he just slipped and he fell. I grabbed the gun from him and when I went back towards the door, I saw a young white woman, she had a firearm with her. I shot her. Now this person who was with me managed to stand up.

Now on our way back a young white man, a white woman - another white woman was there, she had a shoe, but the heel of the shoe was faced towards - was pointed at me and I noticed that this person wanted to scare us, but the person was approaching. On passing the first door in the corridor, I noticed two people talking in this room and I had to shoot at this person who was approaching us. The person who was with me, took the firearm from me and I was left with one firearm. I asked him: "Are you still okay? Are you still in a well condition to fight?" He said: "Let us leave this place." I tried to accompany him up to the door, so that we could go outside. When I turned back, I saw another white person. Because of the noise and because it was chaotic, I did not even take into consideration who she was, but it was a woman. After looking at her, she ran back into the house and we managed to get out of the house. I had to stand at the door for quite some time, so that my injured colleague could walk a distance.

After we had left and just close to a hill, he fell. I got suspicious the way he fell, it looked as if he was loosing energy. When I looked up there where the road came from, I saw many cars driving down and I had to be safe where I was, I had to run away. I tried to run to him to check as to whether he was still alive or not, but I could not do that because the cars were approaching fast and they were now very close. That was my escape.

MR MBANDAZAYO: No, Chairperson, in fact I will pass that one. Let met - my last point to ask you, do you know the motto of the PAC?

MR PUDUMO: Yes, Sir.

MR MBANDAZAYO: What was the motto?

MR PUDUMO: One settler, one bullet.

MR MBANDAZAYO: Was not one settler one bullet the slogan of APLA?

MR PUDUMO: That is correct.

MR MBANDAZAYO: But I'm asking the motto of the PAC.

MR PUDUMO: It's ...(ethnic).

MR MBANDAZAYO: Okay. Lastly, why should you be granted amnesty in respect of this incident? Tell the Committee.

MR PUDUMO: The Committee should grant me amnesty firstly because we were doing what the organisation ordered us. What we did was ordered by the organisation and that is why the Committee should grant me amnesty as requested.

Amnesty is therefore REFUSED in respect of the murders of Jacobus and Emmarentia Ward and the attempted murder of Anna Ward on 21 December 1992 at the Farm Emmaus in the district of Theunissen."

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.is/ZN0KK
• https://archive.is/yV6uk

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• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Apr 15 2021, 20:15:24 UTC

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• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jan 8 2023, 13:15:59 UTC
• https://www.graves-at-eggsa.org/main.php?g2_itemId=1965905