Picture: Three farmers, Jaco Wessels Kemp, Louise Coetzee, and Gert Frederik van der Westhuizen/Supplied
By REGINALD KANYANE
2 April 2026 – Three farmers were sentenced to life imprisonment each by the Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria for the premeditated murder of Dumisani Phakathi, a farm dweller. On 16 September 2023, three farmers, Jaco Wessels Kemp (36), Louise Coetzee (29), and Gert Frederik van der Westhuizen (38) were having a braai at the chicken farm in Mamokgalieskraal.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana said at approximately 4pm, they saw Phakathi walking past the farm gate on his way to collect water from a nearby furrow, which community members commonly used as a water source. Mahanjana said the three approached him and assaulted him.
“They then dragged him into a storage facility inside the chicken farm, where the assault continued until he succumbed to his injuries. In the early hours of 17 September 2023, at approximately 2am, Kemp and Coetzee were stopped by police during a stop-and-search operation on the R511 towards Brits, while driving a bakkie.
“The vehicle was loaded with black refuse bags. During the search, police noticed human legs protruding from underneath the bags. Upon further inspection, they discovered the bloodied body of the deceased, with his head covered in plastic,” she said.
Mahananjana further said Kemp and Coetzee were immediately arrested at the scene. She added that Van der Westhuizen handed himself over to the police on 19 September 2023, after investigations linked him to the offence.
“In court, all three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and shifted blame onto one another. However, the state prosecutor, advocate Lawrence More, presented compelling evidence through state witnesses, proving the state’s case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“In mitigation of sentence, the accused requested the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence because of the time they had already spent in custody since their arrest and that they have children to take care of,” said Mahanjana.
She said, however, More argued for life imprisonment because the trio killed the decease for no reason. Mahanjana said the deceased was killed in an inhumane and cruel manner, his body placed in rubbish bags in an attempt to throw it in a dumping site.
“More also read into the record the Victim Impact Statements, facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Lebogang Lebese, where the sister of the deceased expresses that she no longer trusts white people because of the incident.
“In delivering the sentence, the judge agreed with the state that the three showed no remorse for the offence, they killed a man for no apparent reason. Therefore, the only conclusion he can derive from the killing is that it was racially motivated,” she said.
Mahanjana said the court further declared all three accused unfit to possess firearms and ordered them to surrender all firearms, ammunition, licences, authorisations, and permits to the investigating officer. She said the NPA welcomes the sentence and reiterates its commitment to ensuring accountability for violent crimes, particularly those committed against vulnerable members of society.
The Guardian 