In 2012 in the town of Modimolle, formerly known as Nylstroom, in the province called Limpopo, an act of almost unparalleled horror took place.
The little town was formed in the 1860's when a group of "Voortrekkers" called the Jerusalem Voortrekkers who were bound to the Holy Land (Israel), found this area with a broad river flowing northwards. After much consultation and referring to biblical maps, they decided that it was the Nile River (Nylstroom). They settled there.
South Africa became democratized and the majority black government, the ANC, renamed the town to Modimolle in 2002. I must confess that I never knew where Modimolle was, maybe I should have realised that there was a name change!
A white man, an Afrikaaner, named Johan Kotze, committed deeds of profound horror. His wife, Ina Bonette, had left him in 2011. He was filled with perverted love, rage and hatred for her.
On the 3rd of January 2012, Johan phoned his estranged wife to come collect some more of her goods that had been left behind at his house. When she arrived she chatted with Johan outside the house. She was told to go inside and collect her goods. When she went inside, he threw a towel over her and threw her on the bed. When the towel fell off her face, she saw three black men in the darkened room. She started screaming and struggling. Johan, who was on top of her, pinning her down, shouted for assistance from the three. She was then tied to the bed and her mouth tightly taped closed.
Her pants were removed and Johan used a pair of pliers on her nipples. He cut one nipple off.
After he tortured her, he "forced" the three men to gang rape her. He told the black men they would now know what it was like to have sex with a white woman. He held a rifle to her head and threatened to kill her. He lay next to her and told her how much he loved her and how she had ruined his life. He told her that when her son Conrad arrived home, he would force her son to have sex with his mother, or he would kill him. Then she heard her son's motorbike outside, Conrad, arrived at the house, not knowing what horrors lay inside. Ina Bonette heard her son say "No Uncle, please don't", then she heard a shot. Her son again pled for his life but she heard two more shots. Then silence for a long time. Someone came and set her loose. She went to the next room and saw her son dead. She was screaming at her dead son that they must go before he comes back and kills them.
Ina was put into hospital where she had to undergo reconstructive surgery and receive antiretroviral medication for the gang rape. One of the black men did indeed have AIDS.
Johan was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, orchestrating the gang rape and other crimes of kidnap and torture . So too were the three black men sentenced to life imprisonment for their crimes. Judgement took place in July 2013.
This crime reflects on the extremes of the mental oppression of Apartheid. The media focused on the Monster of Modimolle. Not too much could be said by the media because of the sensitive political environment of South Africa.
But do you see the elephant in the room that no-one here has really addressed?
The three black men.
They were probably threatened with death if they did not rape Ina. They claimed that they could not get erections and pretended to rape the helpless woman. Yet Ina was raped. How many ordinary citizens taken off the street, anywhere else in the world, could get aroused to rape a helpless woman? These fellows were not hardened criminals but members of a disenfranchised community.
Who is the real monster here? What is the real monster here?
Johan was not temporarily insane but guilty, even mentally cognisant when he committed these atrocities. His mangled emotional state is clear. His legal defence tried to defend him on those grounds. It was rejected by the judge.
The black men tried to defend themselves on the grounds that their lives were threatened, yet they could still in that state rape a white woman. An elitist symbol of apartheid, the untouchable white woman. It is not possible to go into their minds yet the inference of this can be seen by their actions. Apartheid society condemning an entire race to lower class status because of the colour of their skin and related factors.
What simmers below the surface of this hard, cruel land?
Monsters are everywhere (regardless of skin colour), the veneer of civilization is too thin. The most vulnerable are women and children. I think of Bosnia for example where, women were raped by the Serbians to defile them. War is just an excuse for rape and pillage.
Yet in this article I am looking at South Africa. How long will it take for this land to truly heal?