Northern KwaZulu-Natal farmer Garth Simpson’s bail hearing – arising from the death of 17-year-old Qiniso Dlamini, who was fatally shot during a scuffle with Simpson – has been postponed until 14 October.
In a further development at his appearance at the Glencoe Magistrates Court yesterday, a charge of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition was added to the initial charge of murder.
There was a heavy police presence in the town – and some protesters, demanding that bail be denied – when Simpson appeared.
Black First Land First and the EFF were among parties that promised to show a presence outside the bail hearing to demand that Simpson be denied bail.
As the Daily Friend reported on Tuesday, attention focuses on questions arising from a video of the incident on 28 September taken by Simpson’s son, Dean.
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.
In a statement yesterday, the IRR said it had sent two Daily Friend writers, Terence Corrigan and Caiden Lang, on a fact-finding mission to the area.
The IRR cautioned against the risks of reaching premature conclusions, and of inflaming prejudice, in the absence of a sober appraisal of the facts.
The statement said: ‘The pattern and practice of political agents provocateurs jumping to conclusions that stigmatize racial minorities is alarming and well-recorded by the IRR. The solution does not lie in stigmatizing, or valorizing, people on the basis of their race, but rather in treating individual cases with particular, empirical interest.’
[Image: Terence Corrigan]