Hounded Ashton winemaker Johnny Burger: farm workers weep at his funeral

Hounded to his death: ‘racist winemaker’ Johanny Burger gave money to Coloured girl to study in USA -- ============== PRAAG - September 7, 2013 Johnny Burger with his fellow accused Wilhelm Treurnicht in the Ashton Magistrate's Court. Photo: Cape Times. ================== Johnny Burger (standing, right) with his fellow accused Wilhelm Treurnicht in the Ashton Magistrate’s Court. Photo: Cape Times. As more facts surface regarding the owner of Rietvallei wine farm, Mr. Johnny Burger, who had been driven to suicide by anti-racists and the media, the so-called perpetrator is starting to look more and more like a victim. In a glowing letter published in the Boland Gazette, a local newspaper in the Cape, a young Coloured woman recounts how the winemaker donated money to further her studies in America. At the time her father was a worker on the farm who was treated with warmth and fairness by the same man accused by Rapport of “beating a young Coloured boy into epilepsy”. We reproduce the letter here:The ‘Oom Johnny’ that I knew… ---------------- by Meriza Lakey : "The first time I met Johnny Burger, or Oom Johnny, as I called him, I was an embarrassed teenage girl. My father, who passed away four years ago, was a builder and worked for Oom Johnny for close to a decade. After matric, I was determined to travel overseas and made the necessary arrangements to go to America. These plans were a little bit ambitious for a coloured, Afrikaans girl from a small wine community within the Western Cape. One Friday afternoon, my father told me to hop into his old, rickety bakkie and we drove off to Rietvallei to see Johnny Burger.At the farm, my father introduced me to Oom Johnny and I remember meeting the tallest man I had ever seen in my life. My father was a pretty tall man himself, but Oom Johnny towered over him like a city skyscraper. My father explained to him that this was the daughter who was leaving for New York soon and if he, Oom Johnny, didn’t have a few extra ‘dollars’ to give to me.As a teenager, this completely caught me off-guard and I thought I could’ve just died. I remember poking my father in the hip and smiling shyly, as to say that we don’t need any ‘hold-outs’. I was a proud teenage girl embarrassed at everything that my father did or say. Oom Johnny just smiled, walked over to his cabinet and drew 200 American dollars out of his drawer. I was shocked at how easily he gave the money, almost like an investment, in me. My father loved him, that’s why he worked for him for over a decade. He always came home with some story of what “Johnny Burger said” or what “Johnny Burger did”. I smile now at how Oom Johnny was never known as just “Johnny”, his name was always followed by his surname and it’s like I can see my father saying it right now. Oom Johnny was also the first to offer advice when we found out about my father’s cancer. I remember visiting Rietvallei again after I came back from America. Oom Johnny spoke to me in English and I replied in my ‘newly-acquired’ American accent, much to his and my father’s amusement. I remember him looking at me and I remember seeing the same look in his eyes, as I saw in my own father’s eyes; that of a proud father. I can only tell you of the Johnny Burger I knew. I wanted to write this tribute to Oom Johnny, as my father would have wanted me to do. I can speak only of what I know and what he did for me and my family. And if that is testament to the kind of man he was, then to me, that was a great man. - Meriza Lakey (daughter of Tommy Lakey) - See more at: http://praag.org/?p=10102#sthash.9KXpH1Le.dpuf ---------- Were assault charges against (now dead) Afrikaner farmer Johnny Burger and farm manager Treurnicht based on "inaccurate court information by complainant's sponsor, the Freedom Trust - 's advisor Carina Papenfus? - ------------------------- Update from 'Die Burger" Afrikaans daily Sept 7 20 13: "Farmworkers weep at funeral service of martyred Ashton farmer Johnny Burger http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZE6P0gQv4fk - http://www.dieburger.com/nuus/2013-09-07-plaaswerkers-huil-by-diens-vir-burger ----------------------"Cape Times: "New twist in Flippie saga" -- Cape Town - Sept 6 2013 -- Documents in the possession of the Cape Times raise questions about the sequence of events that left 18-year-old Flippie Engelbrecht blind, and his subsequent injuries after an alleged assault by a farmer and farm manager. Carina Papenfus, the secretary of The Freedom Trust, a farmworkers’ rights NGO, has been advising the family and filed a complaint with the Sea Point police on Engelbrecht’s behalf earlier this year. - Papenfus has said Engelbrecht was assaulted on Friday, January 25, 2008.On the Sunday, she said, he was “in and out of consciousness” and was taken to a doctor in Robertson on Monday, January 28, and, later that day, in an ambulance to Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, for “emergency surgery” that left him blind. Engelbrecht, who was born on December 28, 1994, according to records, was 13 at the time.Papenfus has also said Engelbrecht fell into a fire, leaving him with severe burns, in September 2009. Subsequently his hands were amputated. Robertson wine farmer Johnny Burger and his manager, Wilhelm Treurnicht, appeared in the Ashton Magistrate’s Court last week, and the case was postponed to September 13. On Tuesday morning, Burger, who owned the Rietvallei farm on which the assault allegedly took place, was found dead at home. (A pending inquest will decide whether he took his own life.) DOCUMENTS SHOW DIFFERENT DATES: Documents in the possession of the Cape Times indicate that Engelbrecht was taken to a doctor on August 15, 2009, complaining of “swelling on the side of his face”. This was 19 months after the alleged assault. Another report, compiled from Worcester Hospital medical records, states that he was referred from Robertson to Worcester Hospital on August 19, 2009 “for possible brain abscess”. He was seen and then sent to Tygerberg Hospital the next day for a brain scan. In October 2009, he was evaluated by the Pioneer School for the Visually Impaired in Worcester with a view to placing him in the school. Records from the Pioneer School say that: “According to the parents he became blind in a strange way, after a boil on his cheek, and was taken to a local doctor. “Swelling occurred and his condition worsened, whereafter he was taken to Worcester Hospital. “According to the mother he was there for about six weeks, and on release he was blind.” A Worcester Hospital report also states that Engelbrecht was referred from Robertson on August 19 last year with burns. Engelbrecht was treated for burns and 10 days later had to have his hands amputated in Worcester. After this he was referred to Tygerberg for more treatment. An occupational therapy report from Tygerberg Hospital from September last year confirms that Engelbrecht had suffered burns on August 19. This was almost three years after the date given by Papenfus." jan.cronje@inl.co.za Cape Times http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/questions-surround-flippie-s-assault-1.1574301 -------------------------------- also: http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2013/09/06/flippies-spokesperson-accused-of-lying-to-bolster-case-against-rietvalleis-johnny-burger/ ------------------- PREVIOUS: Farmer found dead, possibly suicide, after Ashton court mob-attack, threats to burn accused Afrikaner farmer Johnny Burger and farm manager Wilhelm Treurnicht poor SAPS protection ------------- The Afrikaans media reports on 4 September 2013 that accused farmer Johnny Burger has been found dead with a gunshot to his head. Despite the fact that a forensic examination and an inquest court still have to decide how Mr Burger came to his death, the Beeld newspaper has already decided for them: announcing "Farmer in Court Case Takes His Own Life'. http://www.beeld.com/nuus/2013-09-04-boer-in-hofsaak-neem-sy-eie-lewe --------------- If he did take his own life -- which in the face of the many death-threats against him, should be very thoroughly investigated -- he was clearly hounded to death: He and his farm-manager Wilhelm Treurnicht were attacked by a mob outside the Ashton court at their recent court appearance, where they had appeared on remand BUT HAD NOT YET BEEN ASKED TO PLEAD TO ANY CHARGES. The political group which lodged the law suit against them, had organised a large rentamob. The same group also arranged to have their names published before they had even been asked to plead to any charges. ---------------- Mob attacks, threatens to burn Afrikaner farmer Johnny Burger, manager Wilhelm Treurnicht in Ashton Court SAPS fires stun-grenade to chase off rentamob threatening to 'burn' Afrikaner farmer Johnny Burger and manager Wilhelm Treurnicht - the two only made their first remand-appearance and were not asked to plead to any charges - yet they have already been demonised in the SA news media: August 29 2013 Cape Town According to the Argus newspaper, the SAPS used a stun grenade to disperse very violent protesters outside the Ashton Magistrate’s Court, where the Afrikaner farmer Johnny Burger and his manager Wilhelm Treurnicht appeared on charges of assault on Wednesday. They have not yet been asked to plead to the state's charge that the two had allegedly beaten farm worker Flip Engelbrecht and his son Flippie five years ago. Yet they have already been demonised and found guilty by the news media. http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus -------------- (related news: Proof that ANC is behind WC 'farm protests' - http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/we-have-proof-anc-behind-cape-protests-1.1569430 - http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus) ------------ Police were trying to form 'a protective ring' around Johnny Burger, owner of Rietvallei Wine Estate, and farm manager Wilhelm (Dozi) Treurnicht as they made their way to their bakkie after their brief court appearance on Wednesday. It was a remand appearance, they were not asked to plead to any charges, yet they have already been publicly identified and demonised. Once the two men were inside the vehicle, the 'protective ring' clearly didn't work: as the crowd surrounded them, jumped on to the back of the vehicle, hit the windows and bonnet, and threw stones, shouting 'Burn Them'. The state alleges that Flippie, now 20, was left epileptic and blind by the attack. This is the medical evidence which the State will have to prove. Flippie later fell into a fire during a seizure and lost both his hands. Last week he was fitted with a pair of prosthetic hands. -- It is the State’s case that in 2008 Burger and Treurnicht had beaten Engelbrecht, who worked on the farm, and Flippie, then 15. The evidence has not yet been led. The men appeared for their first court-appearance. On Wednesday, the small court building, which has only one courtroom, was filled with tension and anger as the community waited for the two men to appear. By 9am, more than 100 people described as 'farmworkers and community members' by the Argus had gathered outside the court to support the Engelbrecht family. Burger and Treurnicht arrived after 11am, and it was reported that they were late because one had not been feeling well. This prompted fury from the gallery. Shouts of “why are you so special? Who do you think you are?” were yelled as they entered the courtroom. “You say that you not feeling well. How you think this child feels and all the other children you assault?” shouted Carina de Viliers Papenfus, a disbarred lawyer who is the secretary of the Freedom Trust. After a brief appearance, magistrate Francois van Deventer transferred the case to the Ashton Regional Court, postponing the matter to September 13. As the two left the dock, a community member yelled: “Druk hom vas (get him)!” There was a rush for the door, and police formed a protective ring around the duo as the crowd suddenly surrounded them. The men reached their bakkie safely, but then people climbed on to the back and rocked it from side to side, while others hit the windows and bonnet. “Brand hom (burn him)!” was shouted numerous times. As the vehicle moved slowly away, stones were thrown. Police used a stun grenade to disperse the crowd. Solomzi Ntlalombi, one of the protesters, said that, although "he did not know Flippie he was there to support him.An injury to one is an injury to all. I don’t even know him, but support him because of the pain he had to go through.” Nosey Pieterse, the marxist, very militant general secretary of the Building and Allied Workers Union of SA, said Flippie’s case was not unique.“It’s a daily matter of farmworkers being violated. There are many such cases where some have even died, but the farmer is never charged. We are busy reviving those cases too,” Pieterse said. Later the victim - Flippie -- said that he was feeling heartsore. “The farmer didn’t feel well, but how did I feel after he assaulted me? Blood was running out of my ears and nose. I’m hurting. I can’t do anything for my parents.” ----------------- http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/mob-turns-on-flippie-assault-accused-1.1569773#.Uh8Gyn-NB1o ----------------- Karina Papenfus moet so trots op haarself wees vandag: 'n ordentlike boer, Johnny Burger, is doodgetreiter: http://www.beeld.com/nuus/2013-09-04-boer-in-hofsaak-neem-sy-eie-lewe ---------------------