A senior manager of an agricultural machinery distributor who repeatedly used the k-word to refer to black people during a presentation at a dealership in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, has been let off the hook after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute him.
In a letter dated August 31 2022, the prosecutor said she could not lay charges due to lack of proof. NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said the state could not prove all the elements of crimen injuria.
“There are no reasonable prospects of success in the criminal court ... The complainant can consider civil remedies or possibly the Equality Court,” said Nyuswa.
“It was indicated that the complainant can still follow those avenues as he was referring to hate speech and also business transactions in his statement which is usually dealt with in the equality or civil courts where the burden of proof and aspects that needs to be proved is different from in the criminal courts,” she said.
Despite subsequently admitting to using the racial slur on numerous occasions, which was also caught on a recording that Sowetan has listened to, the manager was allowed to walk.
Chris Diedericks, a technical manager at Kempston Agri, was early last year subjected to “an internal inquiry” whose sanction the company refused to reveal.
His company, Kempston Agri, based in Gqeberha, imports and distributes agricultural machinery made by German manufacturer Claas.
In December, Nico von Wielligh, the CEO of VDB Ermelo, on whose property the racist remark was repeatedly uttered, laid the charge with police after his attempts to get Diedericks to be held to account by his employers failed.
Von Wielligh opened the case against Diedericks, Kempston Agri and Claas.
Reacting to the NPA’s decision not to prosecute, Von Wielligh said he was disappointed by the outcome.
“When they say they are not going to prosecute, then it means we may use the k-word in meetings. This is not right. It is wrong to use the k-word in the workplace. I believe a crime was committed and we needed to act. I cannot sit still while someone commits a crime. I had to take a stand against racism. I am not a white racist supremacist,” said von Wielligh.
Von Wielligh’s lawyer, Mabu Marweshe, said they will write to the office of the national director of public prosecutions to review the matter.
“We want a new prosecutor to be assigned to the case so that they go through the evidence again. If the NPA rejects our request, it should issue a non-prosecution certificate so that we can pursue a private prosecution,” said Mabu.
When contacted for comment, Diedericks said꞉ “I am not going to say anything that is going to incriminate me. The whole thing was taken out of contention [sic] from the beginning. I did not disrespect any black people. I got along very well with them. I was telling them about something that happened 30 years ago where someone used the k-word. It is not my nature to do this.”
In March last year, Sowetan reported how, speaking in Afrikaans while making a presentation to an Ermelo-based dealership that sells its products, Dierdericks said “a k***r” who worked for his brother had told him that it was black employees who had to drive tractors and that was something he agreed with.
Diedericks could be heard on tape saying a tractor needs to be checked for grease and oil every morning, which is something he felt black employees should do.
Claas spokesperson Wolfram Eberhardt refused to comment. – kokam@sowetan.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.