Pieter Doorewaard was found guilty of murder, with his co-accused and colleague Phillip Schutte, in the infamous 2017 Coligny sunflower case, but the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2020.
Today Doorewaard, 34, says he carries no hate in his heart, is a “positive South African farmer”, and plans to remain one in spite of the challenges he faces daily.
He has no plans to pull up his roots and accept President Donald Trump’s offer to become a refugee in the US.
“President Trump is not going to invite the refugees in through the front door. He is not even going to pitch you a two-man tent. The people who go that route will have to completely start over. Too much of my blood and tears have been spent on this farm for me to leave,” Doorewaard said.
In 2017, Coligny was in flames after Doorewaard and Schutte were arrested for the murder of 16-year-old Mathlomola Mosweu.
The state alleged the men caught Mosweu stealing sunflowers on a farm and killed him by throwing him off a moving bakkie.
Protests became heated and burning and looting broke out. Coligny residents lost houses and some domestic animals died in the fires.
Doorewaard and Schutte were found guilty and sentenced to 23 and 18 years in prison, respectively. This despite objections over the state relying solely on the evidence of one witness.
In December 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the conviction.
Today, Doorewaard is back on the farm, which borders an informal settlement named Scotland. “Not even the kraal is still standing. We cannot plant corn or sunflowers there any more. Our harvest is just carried away. We have turned to soya because it cannot be picked and eaten straight away,” Doorewaard said.
“We also cannot run cattle on that farm because the entire fence between the farm and Scotland was cut and stolen. If we replace it, it just disappears again.”
Water, electricity, crime. You name a current South African challenge and Coligny has it. Yet, Doorewaard is staying?
“Our family has farmed and worked in this area for generations. We are part of the soil and part of the community. Right now, the mood is up. We’ve had a little rain. Everyone from the shopkeeper to the town labourer feels it when the farmers are not getting enough rain.
“My time in prison opened my eyes to the people around me. You come from a place of safety and then suddenly you are thrown into this world where everything is tough, uncertain and dangerous. I very quickly learnt that despite my own challenges there are a lot of people with much harder struggles in South Africa.”
The people who go that route will have to completely start over. Too much of my blood and tears have been spent on this farm for me to leave
— Pieter Doorewaard
Doorewaard has worked in the US before.
“I went there in 2014 and enjoyed it, but like the other Afrikaner farmers who did that, I saved my money and came home with it. The American farmer and I have spoken after our appeal success, and he said I should just say if I want to go back. But no thanks. I am a positive South African farmer, and I plan to stay one,” Doorewaard said.
He works for his two uncles and has his own stake in the farm as well as a side hustle with peanuts. “My two uncles run cattle. I partnered up with one of them to plant crops on about 700ha and I have four peanut harvesters that I use on the side.”
He carries no hate in his heart for the justice system or South Africa. “What happened, happened, but it is over now. We started afresh and now we must work for our future in this country. We need to talk to each other and not listen to the politicians who love division.
“For a while I kept seeing the same strange cattle on the farm near Scotland. Then one day I found the owner. He is an old man who said he had a young boy watching his cattle, but he fired him and he would watch his animals himself from then on. I told him if he needed help in the drought he must come talk. I can help with bales and feed and so on.
“Communication is everything. Since we had that talk, I’ve not seen the old man’s cattle on our land and my door is still open should he need help. That is the way forward in South Africa.”
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