While a mourning community is still struggling to come to grips with the senseless and cold-blooded murder of well-known local businessman Mr Ben Fisser two weeks ago, murderous thugs have struck again.

This time, well-known business couple André and Petro van den Berg were the victims. Woken by his barking dog at about 03:30 on Tuesday at his home in Kruger Street, Mr Van den Berg pulled away his bedroom curtain. He was confronted by a short, well-built black man who demanded money. This led to a verbal confrontation and the suspect casually pulled out a pistol and shot Mr Van den Berg through his bedroom window at point-blank range. The bullet struck Mr Van den Berg’s chest, just left of his heart, exiting under his armpit, and hit Mrs Van den Berg, who was sitting up in their bed, in the head.

The culprit disappeared into the night and as Mr Van den Berg turned to chase after him, Mrs Van den Berg urged him to help her as she had been hit by the bullet. It was only then that Mr Van den Berg saw the bullet wound to his wife’s head. All this happened in view of the couple’s grandchild, Zelmari (11), who was sleeping in the room with them. In another room, their other grandchild, Tobie (16), was sleeping.

Bloodied and injured himself, Mr Van den Berg helped his wife into his car, collected the children and rushed to a nearby medical centre.

Here, the critically injured Mrs Van den Berg’s condition was stabilized, while Mr Van den Berg drove to the police station to report the incident, only returning later to be treated for his flesh wound. Upon arrival at the medical centre, Mrs Van den Berg was still conscious.

Mrs Van den Berg was rushed to Polokwane where she underwent an emergency operation to the brain to remove the bullet lodged in her head. Doctors later commented that all had gone well with the operation. Mrs Van den Berg was kept overnight in the intensive care unit for observation. According to her son, Morné, she briefly woke up during the evening and medical staff are of the opinion that she had not lost her sight. She was transported to a hospital in Pretoria on Wednesday morning where, at the time of going to press, she was recovering.

The shooting bears a remarkable resemblance to the murder of Mr Fisser, who was also shot through his bedroom window. This fuelled residents’ belief that the same person(s) is responsible for both shootings, as well as the wave of recent armed burglaries in a one-street-block radius of Mr Van den Berg’s home in a period of just two weeks. Similar attacks have been occurring in the area since November last year. The description of the attacker also perfectly resembles the ones provided by other victims.

This latest in a string of violent and even fatal attacks sparked a furore among residents with the local police being severely criticised for their lack of professionalism and progress in trying to apprehend the suspect(s). It is argued that, had the police acted when the attacks and burglaries started, the current situation could have been avoided and lives might have been saved. The police’s lack of “professionalism” was evident on Tuesday. After briefly visiting the Van den Bergs’ home to take fingerprints, all police personnel were withdrawn. No effort was made to secure the crime scene and it was only after a member of the community later spotted what could be very important evidence, the police returned, frantically chasing away bystanders who, by then, had already contaminated the crime scene.

“You can put this in your newspaper – the police do not want to catch this man,” said resident Peet Visser at the scene of the Van den Bergs’ shooting. He is one of a growing number of residents who are starting to seriously question the police’s political motives in handling black-on-white crimes. To date, all the victims targeted by the suspect(s) have been white. The view was also expressed by members of the local Indian community, who state that they suffer the same fate in Eltivillas regarding black-on-Indian crime.

Residents demand to know why the police could appoint a special task team to try and catch the person(s) responsibly for painting the statue of Makhado, spending hundreds of man hours, yet no visible effort is being made to try and catch whoever is responsible for the current spate of violent crimes. “Is it because there are no political points to be scored?” many ask.

“What is happening with the Martin Armitage murder or even the Edna van Heerden murder? Not only I but the whole community would like answers from the police,” said Mr Fritz Ahrens, chairman of the Louis Trichardt Farmers Union.

“Don’t tell me it’s Zimbabweans perpetrating these crimes. The police use Zimbabweans as an easy excuse. The McGuffin-attackers were local people!” Ahrens said.

“We really expect better service from the police. Many of the victims targeted are businesspeople. The situation is unacceptable,” was the response from Mrs Jana Smith on behalf of the Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce. Smith also stated that the local municipality must play a greater role in safeguarding the safety of its residents by, amongst others, keeping parks clean and the grass in open areas cut so as not to supply criminals with hiding places.

Following the brutal attack, local church leaders issued a release, stating “Enough is enough!” They called upon all residents to attend a mass meeting to address the dramatically deteriorating safety situation in town urgently and to come up with a plan of action. The meeting is to take place on Thursday, April 20, at 19:00 at the Ferdie Beyers Hall.

(A copy of the article was sent to the office of the police’s provincial spokesperson in Polokwane, Senior Superintendent Motlafela Mojapelo. Supt Mojapelo said that his office had taken note of the complaints and would investigate the matter. Due to time constraints and deadlines, he promised to give full comment in next week’s edition of the Zoutpansberger).