North West farmer asks AfriForum ‘to get police to do their jobs’

When attackers struck Mpho Munyai’s farm in the early hours of January 9 “they were there to kill, not to steal”.

The 43-year-old cattle and grain farmer from Magaliesburg, in the North West, whose son was shot several times in the attack, has now approached AfriForum’s private prosecution unit in the hope of breathing new life into a stagnant police probe.

He feels the investigation has gone nowhere. Despite significant physical evidence collected at the scene and cellphone data pointing to specific suspects, six months later there are still no arrests.

“We cannot divulge specifics about the reasons I chose to approach AfriForum. I can just say these people were not here to steal, it was a failed hit. For now, the investigation is at a very sensitive stage and on legal advice I do not want to compromise it,” Munyai told the Sunday Times.

In the early hours of January 9, Munyai and his 15-year-old son, whom he asked not to be named, were sleeping in their beds.

“If you look at my three-bedroom farmhouse, it is shaped like a train. The first bedroom is where my son sleeps, then my daughter and finally me. Luckily, my daughter was not home when we were attacked.”

Munyai said the “three or four” attackers started firing without warning.

“The one moment we were both sleeping and the next all hell broke loose. I heard a loud bang, windows breaking, and this was followed by more shots and chaos.”

He managed to open his safe and get hold of a pistol.

“They were firing into our bedrooms indiscriminately while shouting that we must open the house,” Munyai said. “I screamed at my son to get on the ground, but by that time he had already been shot.”

Munyai returned fire and then ran to his son’s room.

“I found him wounded by a shotgun. I carried my seemingly lifeless son to the car. In the process I forgot my firearm inside. When I reached the car, the attackers started firing at us again. I left my son there and ran back to get my firearm. When I returned, my son was gone and I decided I had to go for help.”

He jumped in his bakkie. “I did not make it far before I rolled the bakkie, so I had to sneak back and take a small car,” Munyai said.

He rushed over to neighbours and they called the police.

“When we arrived with the police on my farm at about 4am, the attackers were gone. My son was naked in bed, covered in blood and wrapped in blankets. He was conscious and said the attackers had put him there and covered him. They said he shouldn’t worry, they called an ambulance and it was already on its way.”

He rushed his son to hospital himself. “I took him, he was wounded — shotgun pellets — in the upper body, in the shoulder, neck and face.” He said his son was hospitalised but had since recovered.

Munyai insists this was no ordinary farm attack.  “They had between one and two hours to raid my house when I went looking for help. My safe was open but nothing was taken. My iPad and computers were all still in the house. The only item taken was my phone, which I dropped in the attack,” Munyai said.

Barry Bateman, spokesperson for AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, says they shared Mpho’s suspicion that this was an attempted assassination.

“While we are relieved that he and his son survived this attack on his farm, we are concerned the police might not have properly investigated the critical information Mpho provided to the investigating officer.

“We believe a thorough investigation will identify not only the gunmen, but the mastermind as well. The unit has asked the police to urgently provide an update on the case to allay Mpho’s worry that he and his children are still in danger,” he said.

Advocate Gerrie Nel, head of the unit, has conveyed Munyai’s concerns in a letter to the Phokeng district commissioner.

“Understandably, our client is concerned as there has been no success in identifying the actual shooters or the person who ordered what he maintains was a hit. We believe the SAPS must share our concern that, having failed to carry out their planned murders successfully, the assassins could be unleashed at any time to finish off our client,” he said.

North West police spokesperson Brig Sabata Mokgwabone said: “We are not going to discuss any matter that is under investigation with any newspaper or private institution including AfriForum. It is every person's right to approach any institution or structure that they may feel will assist them in resolving any matter, but the SAPS will not be threatened by unsubstantiated allegations.”