Must the people of South Africa adapt to a new way of life,
living like we are at war. Similar to what the farmers did in the old Rhodesian
war, (now Zimbabwe). Must we always be
prepared and forever vigilant and forever armed for we never know when we will be attacked?
I am not sure if we really
know how many people are murdered a day in South Africa. An artist was shot and killed recently. The deceased
lived in a secure complex where security
was a key feature.
Complexes are the preferred choice of accommodation for
most, based on the security, and peace of mind. Yet,
the murderers still break in, and
kill people. So where in South Africa is it safe to live?
South Africa is a dangerous place.
SOURCE:
Son tells of artist dad's bloody death
Pretoria - Pointing to congealed blood on the living room
floor, Dali Bothma said: “That is my
father’s blood.”
His father, artist Manie St Clair Bothma, 63, was murdered in
his Karen Park home last Wednesday.
The room had yet to be cleaned up; cushions and other items
had been turned upside down.
Furniture had been disarranged
and his father’s artwork was on the floor.
Dali relayed how his
father was shot in cold blood in his
house.
He said he was present when the horrific incident took place
at about 1.20am.
“Everything happened in split seconds.
“I was in my room. Suddenly I heard a loud noise from the
living room.
“I opened my door and stuck my head out. I saw a man facing
the opposite direction, and he turned around with a big gun pointing itat me.”
Dali said he quickly went back to his room and shut his door
and held the handle up so it could not open easily.
“I was scared the man would shoot me through the door.
“I then heard my father screaming
please don’t shoot me; take whatever you
want, just don’t shoot....”
“I then heard the sound of a gun,” Dali said.
A few seconds after the shots were
fired, his father screamed twice “Don’t shoot me”, he added.
Dali then heard a door slamming and a car speeding off.
Bothma said he went out of his room up to his father in the
living room.
“He was just lying there. I screamed ‘daddy... daddy’, but he did not respond,” he said.
He then ran out of the house and round the complex screaming
for help.
He saw a bathroom light on in one of the houses and went in,
asking the woman who opened up to call an ambulance and the police, as his
father had been shot.
Shortly afterwards, an ADT vehicle arrived with the police
and paramedics. His father was declared dead at the scene.
The perpetrators drove off with Bothma’s Kia Picanto, cellphone and paintings which were in the boot.
Two days after the incident, the house was broken into and only cigarettes on the table were taken.
The artist’s other son, Picasso, 29, said he could not
understand why the perpetrators chose their father’s house and took his car,
the cheapest as compared to others in the complex.
“What is it that they were
after? My brother was also here; why didn’t they shoot him too?”
Police spokesman Lieutenant Kay Makhubela said a case of
murder was being investigated.
A neighbour, who refused to be named, said she heard loud
voices on the night of the incident, but thought he was yelling at his son as
he would normally do.
The artist had been living in the complex for eight months, and his son said they always felt safe as
the security was very tight.
The neighbour said she was just as surprised as everyone else
about the murder, as Bothma sr was a
“beautiful soul who was friendly towards everyone. People liked him a lot”.
He used to sell his paintings everywhere and to anyone,
including government officials, doctors, lawyers, former heavyweight boxer
Francois Botha and singer Patricia Lewis, according to his sons.
He once gave paintings to basketball great Michael Jordan and
golfer Tiger Woods.
He was buried on the
same day in Laudium.
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