Police in the North West have confirmed that Serame ‘Tololo’ Mosiatana, whose body was found at the Rietvlei Farm in Coligny on Wednesday, died from a snake bite, days after he was reported missing, quelling rumours that his death was racially motivated.
Residents were suspicions that Mosiatana was killed, and his body dumped on the farm, owned by the employers of the two white farmers, Pieter Doorewaard and Philip Schutte who were found guilty but later acquitted on charges of the murder of Matlhomola Mosweu in 2017, whom they accused of stealing Sunflower worth R80.
Mosiatana’s family and other community members have held protests outside the Coligny police station, demanding answers regarding his death.
But the provincial police spokesperson, Captain Sam Tselenyane, said a preliminary report revealed that Mosiatana had a snake wound on his leg.
“His body was recovered on Wednesday the 4th January 2023 at about 11 o’clock in the morning with no visible injuries, at Rietvlei Farm. After the post-mortem was conducted, the preliminary report revealed that Mosiatana had a snake bite wound on his left foot. Investigations into the matter continue and further forensic tests are awaited,” Tselenyane said.
However, one of the residents, Tlhompho Maretlwa, has rejected the preliminary report.
“We reject those results simply because it’s not true. Some of us were at the scene when Mosiatana’s body was discovered. We saw that he had a bullet wound on his head.
“We even saw car tyre marks where his body was dumped. This is not the first time something like this happens. The minute we realised that he was missing we started looking for him and found his wheelbarrow, where was he at that time?
“Mosiatana is the fourth person to disappear only for his corpse to be discovered later. Something needs to be done. We have been silent for long enough.
“I repeat, these are the same people that killed a young boy, Matlhomola Mosweu in 2017 for Sunflowers. Now they have killed Mosiatana for wood. We are supposed to go to get justice?” he said.
Police have opened an inquest docket and the family hasn’t yet made funeral arrangements for Mosiatana’s burial.
