Three suspects were arrested today for the attack on children at the Maselspoort Resort just outside Bloemfontein on Christmas Day.

Police say the first two who were arrested are from Bothaville and Brandfort respectively. They are Johan Nel (33) and Jan Stephanus van der Westhuizen (47).

The two appeared in court on charges of assault common and crimen injuria and the matter was postponed to January 25, 2023. They were released on a warning, say police.

According to police, the third suspect, from Bloemdal in Bloemfontein, was arrested just after noon and will be charged with attempted murder. He will remain in custody and is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court tomorrow on the main charge of attempted murder.

Free State Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane says: “This matter was regarded as very sensitive, hence we appealed to our team to handle it with the urgency it deserved.”

Video of assault

A video of the incident was shared on Twitter on December 25. It showed black boys being assaulted, throttled and held underwater by white men.

Caxton Local News has chosen not to share the link to the video, given that the children involved are minors and their identity may thus not be revealed.

Police were called to the scene and cases of crimen injuria and common assault were initially opened.

The Citizen reported that the suspects, who are all white males, were warned to appear in court on a date to be set by the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court.

However, in a statement by police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele yesterday, it was confirmed that police had upgraded the assault case to attempted murder after ‘some new developments in the matter’.

“We want to put it on record that the police never downgraded any crime, but worked and were informed by the first statement as obtained from the complainant. That was not the end of our investigation, hence the investigator continued to obtain more statements before the docket could be placed before the senior state prosecutor to give further directives as the one having such power to decide if after obtaining these additional statements, a charge can be changed.

“It was after obtaining these statements, the docket was presented to the senior state prosecutor who gave a directive that a charge can be changed to attempted murder given additional facts.

Makhele says the police’s mandate was ‘to investigate in order to arrest and not to arrest and investigate thereafter’.

Racial tensions

Provincial EFF members condemned the incident and picketed at the resort the next day. They said in a tweet that ‘racism flourishes under Cyril Ramaphosa’.

♦️Must Watch♦️

Our Provincial Chair, Cmsr @Liphoko_Coach and Secretary @MMsimanga_B led fighters to Maselspoort Resort, to attend decisively to the racists and all the apologists!

The EFF continues to be the first respondents to racism that is flourishing under Cyril Ramaphosa! pic.twitter.com/ZQX1LvZSQ9

— EFF Free State (@EFF_FreeState) December 26, 2022

The initial video drew outraged comments and soon two vastly different versions of events that led to the attack emerged.

The president has since said such incidents must be rooted out.

“We must also be united in ridding our society of the violence we see in the video of the incident at the Free State resort, whether such violence comes with racism or not.

“It is deplorable that adults dealing with teenagers resort to violence with such disturbing ease, hurting people physically and offending provisions in our Bill of Rights around the security of the person, including the right to dignity and being free of violence,” the president says.

“As black and white South Africans, we should be united in condemning all manifestations of racism and attempts to explain or defend such crimes. Racism is not a problem to be fought by black South Africans only,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Bloemfontein Courant reports that Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Makalo Mohale called for an urgent meeting with the management of the resort.

The outcome of his visit is not yet known.