Provide proof that farmer is racist

26 January 2007 - 02:00
By unknown

I read some letters about how "racist" farmer Marcel Nel got away with a R10000 fine for "brutally" shooting dead an 11-year-old. I don't get it.

I read some letters about how "racist" farmer Marcel Nel got away with a R10000 fine for "brutally" shooting dead an 11-year-old. I don't get it.

From what I know, one of Nel's black workers showed him where to shoot. Then Nel carried out mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the boy. Does someone do that after shooting a child deliberately? Apparently Nel was very close to the boy and he looks after his workers well.

I never heard the boy's parents claim racism or say that Nel shot their son deliberately. Maybe those crying racism know something the courts don't.

Our law makes a distinction between an accident and a deliberate act. Someone compared this case with one where a man got a R200000 fine for catching protected fish. The difference is that the man who fished broke the law knowingly. The farmer tried to save the boy's life after realising his mistake.

If Nel shot deliberately then he deserves nothing less than the death penalty, not a R10 000 fine.

Nel should have got 10 years community service to realise how stupid he was. The community would have benefited too.

People who say Nel is a racist should provide the evidence, not spread hatred and racism. If not, they are failing the child's parents.

A Lintvelt, Sophiatown