The provincial department of rural development and agrarian reform said it would hold talks with the national department to find out how mass killer Louis van Schoor was made a director of a project aimed at helping emerging black farmers.
Rural development and agrarian reform MEC’s spokesman Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha said they did not understand how Van Schoor was drafted into the programme.
“This was done by the national department, it’s a national competence. We will engage them to understand how we find ourselves in such a situation. How was this criminal, who committed crimes against humanity, recruited to the programme?”
Sicwetsha said land reform was about transforming land, ensuring that black people benefited while participating in the mainstream of agriculture economy.
“The reality of the situation is that there could be others like him benefiting from our programmes.”
The Sunday Times yesterday revealed that Van Schoor was the director of a multimillion-rand government land reform programme meant to benefit previously disadvantaged emerging black farmers.
Kingsdale Diary Farm, situated 30km from East London, was bought by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in 2011 for R11-million through the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme.
The programme’s online pamphlet states clearly that it is meant to benefit black Africans, Indians and coloureds – groups that were economically sidelined by the apartheid regime’s racist laws.
According to the Sunday Times report, Van Schoor murdered 39 black people between 1986 and 1989 while employed as a security guard in East London.
Speaking to the paper, Van Schoor denied that he was unrepentant and claimed he had tried to reach out to his victims.
He said his past was behind him and the community had accepted him for what he was giving back to them.
Van Schoor’s daughter, Sabrina van Schoor, is serving a 25-year prison term for hiring a hitman to kill her mother in 2002.
In 2008 Sabrina said her troubled childhood was characterised by racism.
Certain events, including being ostracised by her mother, brothers and the white community, who objected to her association with people of other races, led to her conspiring to kill her mother.
Sicwetsha urged the public to come forward if they knew of any individuals like Van Schoor who were benefiting from programmes aimed at empowering black farmers. — poliswap@dispatch.co.za
Shock over killer’s involvement in project
Rural development and agrarian reform MEC’s spokesman Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha said they did not understand how Van Schoor was drafted into the programme.
“This was done by the national department, it’s a national competence. We will engage them to understand how we find ourselves in such a situation. How was this criminal, who committed crimes against humanity, recruited to the programme?”
Sicwetsha said land reform was about transforming land, ensuring that black people benefited while participating in the mainstream of agriculture economy.
“The reality of the situation is that there could be others like him benefiting from our programmes.”
The Sunday Times yesterday revealed that Van Schoor was the director of a multimillion-rand government land reform programme meant to benefit previously disadvantaged emerging black farmers.
Kingsdale Diary Farm, situated 30km from East London, was bought by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in 2011 for R11-million through the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme.
The programme’s online pamphlet states clearly that it is meant to benefit black Africans, Indians and coloureds – groups that were economically sidelined by the apartheid regime’s racist laws.
According to the Sunday Times report, Van Schoor murdered 39 black people between 1986 and 1989 while employed as a security guard in East London.
Speaking to the paper, Van Schoor denied that he was unrepentant and claimed he had tried to reach out to his victims.
He said his past was behind him and the community had accepted him for what he was giving back to them.
Van Schoor’s daughter, Sabrina van Schoor, is serving a 25-year prison term for hiring a hitman to kill her mother in 2002.
In 2008 Sabrina said her troubled childhood was characterised by racism.
Certain events, including being ostracised by her mother, brothers and the white community, who objected to her association with people of other races, led to her conspiring to kill her mother.
Sicwetsha urged the public to come forward if they knew of any individuals like Van Schoor who were benefiting from programmes aimed at empowering black farmers. — poliswap@dispatch.co.za
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