Mpumalanga police are investigating a culpable homicide case after a 61-year-old woman was killed on her farm when a worker from a neighbouring farm drove over her with a tractor.
The worker is alleged to have continued driving afterwards as the woman lay on the ground bleeding to death.
Bishop Virginia Mngomezulu was killed at Elim farm near Breyten Estancia last Wednesday.
According to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Lt-Col Jabu Ndubane, officers were on patrol when they received a call about 2.20pm.
“When police arrived, they found the woman’s husband, James Mngomezulu, and another man who showed them the body lying in a pool of blood,” said Ndubane.
“Mr James Mngomezulu, husband to the deceased, informed the police that he received a call from his farm dwellers that there was a tractor at his farm busy ploughing. He rushed there to see what was happening.
“On arrival, his wife alighted from the vehicle with a family friend. She [the wife] was waving her hands trying to stop the driver. Unfortunately, she was caught up by the blades [discs] from the back of the tractor, and it drove over her. She died on the spot.
“The driver of the tractor is alleged to have continued driving even after the incident had occurred.”
Emergency services declared the woman dead at the scene.
Ndubane said police have opened a culpable homicide case and that no arrests have been made.
The matter has been referred to the office of the director of public prosecutions for a decision, she said.
Speaking to Sowetan, an emotional Mngomezulu said he and his wife had been leasing the land from the department of agriculture and rural development.
“We are on a 30-year lease. When we arrived on that land, there were people we call farm dwellers. They have been staying there and working for a white man initially, before the government bought the farm.
“All of a sudden, they turned against us and said the farm belongs to them and we are supposed to leave and that their great grandmothers and great grandfathers were living there and we are trespassers on that farm.”
He said tensions began shortly thereafter.
“They would block roads when we came to the farm and we ended up having to run away from the farm. This thing has been going on for the past eight years now.
“We left the farm in 2017 because our lives were in danger.”
Mngomezulu said they have had countless correspondences with the department asking it to intervene.
“They [the department] eventually said they would demarcate the farm so that these people could have their own space and we have our own space. They gave them 127 hectares from the piece of land we had initially.”
However, he said this did not resolve the tensions, forcing him to obtain a protection order. He also said the man who drove over his wife with the tractor is from one of the families fighting them.
He said on Tuesday he had received a call from his farm workers informing him that the man had cut the fence and was ploughing their land.
“I opened a case the following day,” he said.
However, the man returned to the farm the following day, said Mngomezulu.
“I took a drive [to the farm] with my wife and [a friend] and when we got there, we found the tractor in the field and it was driving up and down.”
Mngomezulu said while he was on the phone with the police, his wife tried to stop the driver, asking him to talk.
“But he drove towards her, until he hit her and she went under the tractor. Now she is gone.”
“We have countless cases against these people. We have a big file full of correspondence asking [the department] to assist. Now my wife is dead on that land. Can you imagine a man driving over a woman with a big tractor? I want justice for my wife.”
Mngomezulu said he was heartbroken that no arrests had been made.
“They [police] are telling me they can’t say it is a murder case when it is clear it is. He [the perpetrator] even said he saw her, she was trying to stop him, but he continued to drive and I don’t know what they want to hear from this man.”
We have countless cases against these people. We have a big file full of correspondence asking [the department] to assist.
— James Mngomezulu
He also expressed outrage that the tractor’s owner was allowed to take it home.
“There is no justice in SA. These people are ruthless. How can you drive over a woman? She was a harmless person.”
Sowetan reached out to the department of agriculture and rural development to enquire about the allegations made by Mngomezulu regarding the dispute over the land.
Spokesperson Zithini Dlamini acknowledged receipt of the questions. However, she asked for more time and her response will be added once received.
Sowetan