road, critically injured. A passer by was asked to look over him, as the two men proceeded to the police station where an ambulance was summoned. Moshoeu died of his injuries on his way to hospital in Lichtenburg. On 24 April 2017 it was decided to charge the farm managers with murder. They handed themselves over to police on the 25th, and were charged and requested to hand over the pickup truck involved in the incident. They appeared before a magistrate court on 28 April 2017. Mattheus van Loggerenberg, the magistrate and resident of Coligny who was presiding over the case, noted that it was in the interest of justice that he recused himself from the case, citing that he feared for his life and that of his family. The case was postponed to 9 May 2017 for a formal bail application. Further incidences of violence ensued after the two co-accused were released on bail – a farmhouse was torched, a photographer was attacked and a confrontation erupted between the protesters and farmers. Judge Ronald Hendricks of the High Court in Mahikeng sentenced the two men, Doorewaard and Schutte, to 18 and 23 years respectively, after the testimony of the state witness, Mr Pakisi, was accepted. However, on appeal, the men's conviction was overturned. The testimony of Mr Pakisi, the only evidence the State relied upon in their argument, was rejected as inconsistent and unreliable. At the places where Pakisi claimed he was shot at, no cartridge casings were found, and his timeline of events could not be reconciled with known times. In the bungled investigation, no blood stains or samples were found or collected in either the vehicle, any place Moshoeu was supposedly assaulted, or on the jersey which Pakisi supposedly used to wipe away Moshoeu's blood. It was found that the State did not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, and Doorewaard and Schutte were acquitted of all charges after spending 13 months in jail. AfriForum funded the appeal costs, and its private prosecution unit provided support in the case investigation. In 2019 the Moshoeu family was donated a new house in Verdoorn Park, Coligny, by Gift of the Givers, on land donated by the Ditsobotla Local Municipality. References Populated places in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality Populated places established in 1923 Populated places founded by Afrikaners