2008 Skierlik shooting

The 2008 Skierlik shooting occurred on 14 January 2008, when a teenage Afrikaner opened fire in Skierlik, a township near Swartruggens, South Africa, killing 4 black people and injuring 8 in a racially motivated attack. The shooter, Johan Nel, had shouted racial expletives during the shooting and was arrested after attempting to seek refuge at a nearby farm. He was awaiting sentencing for shooting and paralyzing a black man who had allegedly attacked him when he was 13. Nel was sentenced to four life sentences and 68 years in prison.

Background
The shooting took place in Skierlik (alternatively spelled Skielik), a township and squatter camp near Swartruggens.

Perpetrator
Jozef Johannes "Johan" Nel, an 18-year-old Afrikaner, was the perpetrator of the shooting. The youngest of two boys, his mother was a qualified teacher while his father was a farmer. Johan was living and had been working at his family's chicken farm. He attended public school until third grade before being homeschooled by his mother, passing eleventh grade. According to his lawyer, Nel never learned to socialize, particularly with black people. Nel's social life was described in court as poor and isolated out of his own volition.

Nel's older brother was attacked at their farmhouse in May 2001 at the age of 15 while the rest of his family was at church. His brother chased off the robbers with a revolver, but the robbers told his brother they would return and kill everyone in the family, and then attack another farm in the area. According to his mother, this traumatized the then 11-year-old Nel. His family was described in court as structured but dysfunctional, with Johan feeling that he did not receive as much attention and love as his older brother, especially after the farm attack his brother fell victim to.

On 17 July 2003, at the age of 13, Nel shot and paralyzed a black man who had allegedly attacked him while cutting grass at the farm. Family and friends claimed the shooting was in self-defense, and that he had been attacked by the man with a sickle. Nel was convicted of recklessly discharging a firearm. The sentencing for that case had been provisionally suspended until 2008, as Nel was a minor at the time. After the shooting, his mother expressed regret she did not get him counseling, as he was "already hysterical" after his first arrest and the attack on his brother. He only attended one session of his court ordered rehabilitation after the first shooting.

A family friend of Nel claimed that he had a "definite interest" in farm attacks, which depressed him. Nel believed white people were "under attack" and was described in court as suffering intense anxiety that "crystallized into racial hatred". Nel and his brother were members of the local gun club for recreational purposes. He had browsed numerous far-right websites.

The day before the shooting, Nel visited with his family friends, who had recently suffered a gas attack and robbery on their farm. Upon hearing this and seeing another farm attack mentioned on the news, Nel became physically ill and visibly distressed, and left the room.

Shooting
On 14 January 2008, Nel, in his father's Toyota bakkie, drove to the Skierlik settlement and parked next to the main road. He then walked to Skierlik and opened fire with a .303 BSA bolt-action rifle, shooting anyone he saw. Nel carried 125 rounds of ammunition. Nel shouted racist abuse while shooting, shouting in Afrikaans: "Come out, you kaffirs. I want to kill you, you black assholes." Residents went for cover and tried to flee.

After firing more than 100 rounds Nel requested additional ammunition from a local farmer. After the farmer refused, Nel shot his ostrich. He then approached two other farmers and discussed with them what he had done.

Four people were killed and eight were injured, three critically. Three others were shot at, and about 100 shots were fired in total. The dead included a 3-month-old baby. All of the victims were black. Nel was arrested some time afterwards after attempting to seek shelter at a nearby farm, when the owner took him to the local police station and he turned himself in.

Aftermath
Nel told his mother after the shooting that, "something snapped inside me." He was sent to Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital to be assessed where he spent a month. After the shooting, protests broke out involving thousands of people. During these protests the controversial "Kill the Boer" slogan was chanted. Though one local resident reportedly said: "Comrades, there is no killing of the farmer and no killing of the boer. We kill the killer." Riot police were called to control the crowd.

Vuyisile Mpofu, a retired policeman who had worked with Nel's father, said Nel had previously treated black people with respect and said his family were not racist. Townspeople described his family as "‘God-fearing' ordinary people, with no known right-wing connections or inclinations". A family friend of the Nels expressed distress over the racial polarization in the town after the shooting, saying "What the suspect did was wrong, just as farm murders are wrong, but the racial divisions that are now being fired by politicians, are very dangerous". Wilhelm Rocher, the security chairperson of the Transvaal Agricultural Union, described Nel as a "ticking timb bomb", saying the shooting was "an alarm clock that has gone off that warns us that our youth are being exposed to horrific scenarios as a result of crime."

AfriForum condemned the incident and sent condolences to the families of the victims. The Young Communist League "welcomed the sentence". The Democratic Alliance in the North West said it "regretted the killings", and a DA counsellor in the area stated "We feel very, very sorry about this", and that the community, whether white or black, should "accept the decisions of the court."

Legal proceedings
The case was moved to high court due to the severity of the charges. The court only spoke in Afrikaans, when they were meant to speak in two languages so more people could understand in court, leading the relatives of some of the victims to say the proceedings were racially biased. Nel's father was charged for negligent handling of a firearm, as his gun, used in the shooting, was not locked in a safe as required by law. During the court proceedings Nel gave photographers thumbs up and grinned at the relatives of the victims.

The judge received death threats during the hearings, resulting in a legal investigation being opened over intimidation, and said racism cannot be tolerated. The court refused to hear of any "compelling circumstances" relating to the crime. Nel was declared mentally competent. The doctors who examined him stated to the court that Nel had features of avoidant, suspicious, and compulsive personality disorders, as well as depression and an anxiety disorder. They said he expressed no deep remorse for his actions, and described him as emotionally dead and emotionally numb. Nel claimed he could not remember committing the shooting, and admitted "it was wrong to kill".

Nel was declared mentally fit to stand trial 14 April. He faced four charges of murder, 11 of attempted murder, and one charge each of possession of an unlicensed firearm, damaging property, and possessing ammunition. The charge of property damage (relating to the ostrich) was dropped. Nel pleaded guilty to all charges 17 November 2008. Nel showed no emotion as he was sentenced. Nel was sentenced to 4 life terms and 68 years in prison; a life term for each of the four murder counts, and seven years for each of eight attempted murder charges.

Legacy
The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, discussed the shooting in 2022, saying: "The hurt of what took place in Skierlik, here 14 years ago, still cuts deep. It still hurts. People still remember, people still have it embedded in their memory. It was a stark reminder to us all that racism did not die when apartheid fell."

A theatre play was made based on the shooting. It won the Best Production award at the Baxter Theatre's Zabalaza Festival.

In the wake of the shooting, Skierlik's occupants were relocated to neaby Mazista and provided with housing. After the shooting, the location of the shooting became often referred to as just "Johan Nel". The victims and survivors of the shooting refused to attend a memorial service held in their honor in 2014, saying the municipality had short-charged them after the shooting. Nel got married while in prison in 2012. One of the relatives of the victims wished their marriage well, while another was upset that Nel was allowed such freedom in prison, saying a black person in a similar situation would not have been afforded the same rights.