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Courts, farmers 'are colluding'
25/03/2008 21:03 - (SA)
Johannesburg - There is a need to investigate collusion between prosecutors and white farmers, the Congress of SA Trade Unions said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Patrick Craven said they demanded a full investigation into the conduct of the police and prosecutors.
Reacting to news that the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) had set aside the murder conviction against Musina farmer Jewell Crossberg, who shot dead a worker he mistook for a baboon, Craven said: "The police conduct has fuelled suspicion, yet again, that the police and courts have been acting in collusion to favour the wealthy white farmer.
"There is a clear need of a broader investigation into allegations of collusion between the state, prosecutors and rich white employers."
Craven said the white farmers seemed to have money and influence to escape responsibility for horrendous crimes they committed against their black employees.
The SCA changed the conviction of Crossberg to culpable homicide and cut his jail sentence from 20 years to five, with two suspended.
Craven said Cosatu was also angered by an incident in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, where a farmer refused a black family entry to his farm to bury a relative.
Funeral procession barred
"This reveals that life in many South African rural communities has changed little since the days of apartheid," he said.
Welverdient farm owner Pieter Erasmus is alleged to have barred a funeral procession from advancing to the farm's graveyard on Good Friday.
Erasmus allegedly said the name of the dead person did not appear on the list of people who lived on his land.
Craven said the case highlighted the urgent need to speed up land redistribution, so that farms were transferred to the people who spent their lives on them.
"They must be able to enjoy security of tenure, share the profits from farming and use their ancestral land for community activities without interference."
Cosatu demanded that the family be given full and immediate access to the land.
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