Amid the chaos that divided the Groblersdal community along racial lines, on Wednesday, a group of protesters drew ire from social media for brandishing a ‘Vierkleur’ flag.
Dust settles in Groblersdal but tensions remain palpable
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Limpopo police had their hands full dousing fires from both sides of the racial spectrum outside the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court, where farmer Piet Groenewald and his son, Stephen Grief, appeared for their bail hearing.
Days before the court date, an Afrikaner-centred rights group, the Bittereindes, used social media to rally support for one of their own. According to the Bittereindes, farmers in the region were duty-bound to represent Groenewald in the strongest way possible, particularly in the face of resounding condemnation from the EFF’s Limpopo battalion.
Groenewald and his son were charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm for allegedly bludgeoning their newly hired security guard, Veneruru Kavari, injecting him with an unknown substance and setting dogs on him after a scuffle prompted by the 30-year-old reporting for duty intoxicated.
Groenewald’s family has vehemently denied the allegations, maintaining there was more to the story, and that Piet and Stephen were merely defending themselves against an aggressive Kavari.
The Bittereindes needed no further substantiation from Groenewald’s family and what ensued on Wednesday, a depiction of existing racial tensions brewing in certain corners of South Africa, will be remembered in Groblersdal for a very long time.
Consequently, Groenewald and his son were remanded in custody until Wednesday, 31 January 2024, for a ruling on their bail application.
What is the ‘Vierkleur’ flag and its significance in South African history?
As the farmer and his son idle in jail, outside, tensions remain palpable in Groblersdal. Elsewhere, questions have risen about the Bittereindes’s demonstrations, where groups of farmers and Afrikaners led a march to the magistrate’s court carrying a flag that was not of this Republic.
In fact, research indicates the flag brandished by the group was one of the Boer Republic flags, a symbol of various periods and ideologies in South African history.
The flag itself, known as the “Vierkleur” (meaning “four colours” in Dutch/Afrikaans), was adopted by the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) and is closely linked to the Boer identity and their struggle for self-determination and independence.
The Vierkleur consists of horizontal stripes of red, white, and blue, with a vertical green stripe at the hoist. This design was established in the mid-19th century and was used, with some interruptions, until the end of the Anglo-Boer War in 1902, when the republic was absorbed into the British Empire.
The significance of the Vierkleur flag is manifold. While it symbolised the Boers’ aspirations for independence and self-governance, it is also intrinsically linked to the bloody encounter between Boer settlers commanded by Hendrik Potgieter and Piet Uys, and a battalion of King Mzilikazi Moselekatse’s Matebele raiding party.
The choice of colours in the flag was also symbolic. The red, white, and blue were derived from the flag of the Netherlands, reflecting the Dutch heritage of the Boers.
The addition of the green stripe represented the African context of the republic.
In contemporary times, the Vierkleur has been adopted by some as a symbol of cultural heritage, while others view it as representative of a problematic past, particularly due to its association with the apartheid era and subsequent far-right movements in South Africa.
FF Plus Limpopo leader Marcelle Maritz, speaking to SABC News, said this about the farmers’ decision to brandish the Vierkleur flag:
“We carry the four colour flag with no racist background or nothing, it’s just solidarity to the farmers and people that are Afrikaans, and yes we are here today just to make sure that those two men get bail.”