http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/09/wsaf09.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/07/09/ixnews.html

White farmer stands trial for shooting a black boy he 'mistook for a dog'

By Stephen Bevan in Thabazimbi

(Filed: 09/07/2006)

If the tearful pleas of the man who pulled the trigger are to be believed, it was no more than a tragic accident.

When Marcel Nel, a white South African farmer, shot at a dark shape rustling in the long grass at dusk on his neighbour's plot, he thought that he had at last caught the dog that had been terrorising his animals.

Only when he ran over to inspect his kill did he discover the dying body of Sello Pele, 11, a black labourer's son who earned pocket money by opening and closing the gates of Nel's farm.

Yet, last week, despite his claim that it was no more than a terrible mistake, Nel found himself in the dock of the local courthouse. Hearing that he had been denied bail pending a police inquiry into the fatal shooting, he broke down and sobbed. But, for the angry crowd from the local black community that gathered outside the magistrates' court in Thabazimbi, a small mining town 120 miles north of Pretoria, the case against Nel needs no further investigation.

In another stark example of the racial tensions that still haunt South Africa, many are convinced that it was a deliberate, racist murder. Nel's defence that he mistook Sello for a dog has only served to fuel their outrage.

[highlight]As he sat weeping inside the court, a crowd outside waved placards reading, "We are Africans, not dogs", while children crawled on all fours in the dirt and pretended to bark.[/highlight]

[color="Blue"] (I need to find that video. )

The case also looks set to become a cause célèbre for the ruling African National Congress Party, whose officials have branded Nel's actions a "disgrace".

"He knew this child very well, yet he says he mistook him for a dog," said Sello's cousin, Brenda Mokgogi, 21. "I think it's all about the fact that he is white and we are black."

[highlight]Even Nel's claim that he tried frantically to save the boy by giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation has backfired. Sello's family are furious at reports that he asked that the child's blood - which had spattered all over him - be tested for HIV. Sello's father, Johannes Pele, 57, said the request was "an insult to me and my family".[/highlight]

[color="blue"](Depending on location, up to a third of black South Africans have AIDS. I'd opt for the test as well.)

Relatives of Nel, who faces a possible life sentence if found guilty of murder, say that he has been shocked by the animosity the case has aroused.

[highlight]"He told me if I come to court again I must leave his wife and children at home as there is a risk someone might want to hurt them," his brother Vandre Nel, 33, said.[/highlight]

He was adamant that his brother was neither a murderer nor a racist. "He is in turmoil over this. His first reaction was, 'I've taken the life of someone else's child.' It has nothing to do with colour. [highlight]Nobody who is racist would have given the child mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Indirectly, he risked his own life and now he is having to take anti-retroviral drugs in case he was infected with HIV."[/highlight]

A shopkeeper who was nearby when the shooting happened has corroborated Nel's story. Lena Dube, 43, who is black, said she had seen Sello playing in the long grass next to her shop and twice warned him to get away because she knew Nel was hunting a dog in the area.

"Then I heard a shot and ran outside," she said. "I saw the boy on the ground. Marcel was crying. He said, 'I thought he was a dog but it's a child'."

[highlight]Yet, even if Nel is acquitted, his family believes that he may have to leave the area for good, forcing him to sell up the thriving guest lodge and pig farming business he had built up over years.[/highlight]

Too many black locals would suspect that he had got off simply because he was white. "There is no justice here," said David Mokgomyana, 22. "If a white person commits a crime, the case is thrown away."

He was echoing a view held by many of Thabazimbi's black residents - that racist attitudes are still entrenched among white farmers. "Racism is very rife here," said Mr Pele. "Even now, the farmer I work for has threatened us with dismissal because we don't want to accept the explanation offered by Mr Nel for our son's death."

[highlight]Nor is this the first incident of violence by whites against blacks in the area, according to Masisi Tollah, a community leader, who cites an assault on a farm worker by the owner earlier this year and an alleged arson attack on an all-black farm school. [/highlight]

[color="blue"](Sure, and it's just a freaking paradise for Whites, right?)

Vandre Nel accepted that the injustices of the apartheid era were hard for many blacks to forgive. But he claimed that the case had also been hijacked by those with a political agenda.

There was certainly no shortage of politicians prepared to condemn the killing on Thursday. Richard Mohoa, the chairman of the local Congress of South African Trade Unions, was cheered when he called for the removal of the local police commander, who is black. He criticised him for acting on Mr Nel's demand that the boy's blood be tested for HIV, when he "should have been protecting his community".

Yet, according to the town's mayor, Lucas Matlou, this is the only way to stop people's anger getting out of control. "It's important that people see local leaders in the forefront of condemning the killing, [highlight]otherwise they might think of making their anger felt another way," he said.[/highlight]

[color="blue"](TNB knows no borders.)

Mr Tollah promised an even bigger demonstration outside the court when Nel appears again tomorrow.

"We're not trying to interfere with the court proceedings - just to say that we're aware of what has happened in past cases,' he said.