It was the lesser, fourth charge facing Eugene Terre'Blanche's alleged killers that has caught Chris van Zyl's attention. "They pulled down Mr Terre'Blanche's pants after they killed him. That was an act of humiliation and it is one of the factors that show us that the murder was politically motivated," said the retired major-general.
New allegations that a used condom was found in the farmhouse where Terre'blanche was murdered suggest a sexual dimension to the killing is just as likely. But Major-General Van Zyl is unlikely to listen to scurrilous speculation. He now trains white South African farmers in self-defence, deep in the Afrikaner heartland of the former Transvaal. A member of the 6,000-strong Transvaal Agriculture Union (TAU), he was not expecting a drop-off in demand for his expertise.
AgriSA, the main farmers' union, recorded 1,541 murders and 10,151 farm attacks between 1994 and last year. "The real problem is President Jacob Zuma," said Bennie van Zyl. "He cannot be trusted. We have been to him five times," he added, handing over a pile of unanswered letters, covering South Africa's failed land redistribution programme, farm killings and cattle rustling. "Zuma is under pressure from the left wing of the government alliance and he does not know how to stand up to people like Malema. He is allowing land to become a political issue, like Mugabe. But farming is about food security, not politics”.