SOME cases give credence to the gripe that the wheels of justice grind slowly when the rich or powerful are involved.
The farmer who shot dead a man he allegedly mistook for a dog in the KwaZulu-Natal town of Newcastle at the weekend conjures up such perceptions.
Farmworker Sipho Mbatha was shot by a farmer who said he was shooting at a pack of dogs belonging to illegal hunters, only to realise later that he had shot Mbatha.
Public pressure is mounting on police to arrest the farmer, who reportedly sent his brother to report the matter.
Compounding matters is a complaint by the Landless People's Movement that a number of cases of abuse against farmers are ignored by police.
This is a perennial problem that continues to dog rural communities and a throwback from the apartheid-era and remains a sore-point today.
Thorny issue
SOME cases give credence to the gripe that the wheels of justice grind slowly when the rich or powerful are involved.
The farmer who shot dead a man he allegedly mistook for a dog in the KwaZulu-Natal town of Newcastle at the weekend conjures up such perceptions.
Farmworker Sipho Mbatha was shot by a farmer who said he was shooting at a pack of dogs belonging to illegal hunters, only to realise later that he had shot Mbatha.
Public pressure is mounting on police to arrest the farmer, who reportedly sent his brother to report the matter.
Compounding matters is a complaint by the Landless People's Movement that a number of cases of abuse against farmers are ignored by police.
This is a perennial problem that continues to dog rural communities and a throwback from the apartheid-era and remains a sore-point today.