Police were deployed at strength in the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Glencoe today ahead of the bail hearing of farmer Garth Simpson, arrested last week in connection with the death on 28 September of 17-year-old Qiniso Dlamini, who was fatally shot in the gut during a scuffle with Simpson.
A Daily Friend team in Glencoe reported earlier today that the mood was calm in the town.
Black First Land First and the EFF are among parties that have promised to show a presence outside the bail hearing to demand that Simpson be denied bail.
As the Daily Friend reported yesterday, attention focuses on questions arising from a video of the incident on 28 September taken by Simpson’s son, Dean.
Yesterday’s report noted that the state prosecutor and police had refused to admit the video as evidence, and Dean Simpson had not been interviewed by the police as of 3 October. Whether a subsequent attempt to consider the evidence had been made was not clear.
Tension in the region has been high for some time, arising from a pattern of illegal grazing, and arson attacks in the area over the recent winter and spring.
Commenting on the larger context and the need for cool-headedness, local security official Johan du Plessis observed: ‘We are very worried about the safety of this area. Very worried. It looks like people are trying to politicise this thing, to even make it a racial thing, but that is not what happened.’
[Image: The scene in Glencoe this morning. Terence Corrigan]