This farm now belongs to us and no one is going to make us believe otherwise, the EFF in East London on Wednesday declared after the “expropriation” of Fritz Joubert’s smallholding.
A police officer shot and killed Joubert after the murder of Anele Hoyana, 40, in his home in Geluksdal, just outside Gonubie in the Eastern Cape on Saturday.
The murder of Hoyana, a sangoma, sent shockwaves across the country, especially as Joubert recorded the entire incident on video and shared on his Facebook page.
“We took over. The farm is now ours, ”Mziyanda Hlekiso, the EFF’s regional chairman, said on Wednesday.
According to him, the EFF intends to convert Joubert’s farm into a daycare center because there is no one in the area.
He said a community meeting would be held as soon as the police investigation on the farm, and the rituals Hoyana’s family had to perform after his death, were completed.
Asked about the legality of their actions, Hlekiso replied that the police had not appealed to them.
He said police do not have the authority to ban the expropriation, and that they will pave the way for themselves if served with court orders.
“In the Eastern Cape, 98% of the buildings belong to white owners. We are going to take over all the buildings owned by white people, including farms. His (Joubert’s) farm is the beginning.
“There is no place for racism in the Eastern Cape and in the country. We were shocked when we arrived at the farm and saw the old country flag hanging there, ”Hlekiso said.
Hoyana’s brother, Olwethu Hoyana, said on his Facebook page that seeing his brother’s body and recognizing his mutilated face was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do.
“It’s an image that will be engraved in my back forever. It’s little that I don’t have words, but for the past three days I’ve been dumb as I try to make sense of everything.
