The State v Salzwedel and Others

The four respondents, young white men associated with the Afrikaner Weerstands Beweging (AWB), participated in racist vigilante patrols in white residential areas of East London. On 12 March 1994 they encountered a red Cortina with a Ciskei registration number that had broken down in the Cambridge area. Believing the occupants to be black, they vandalised the vehicle and later returned, attacked its occupants, and pursued them. The deceased, a frail and physically disabled black man, was caught, beaten with extreme brutality, and killed. The trial court convicted all four respondents of murder on the basis of dolus eventualis, as well as malicious damage to property, but imposed wholly suspended sentences coupled with correctional supervision and compensation orders.

The appeal against sentence succeeded. The sentences imposed by the trial court were set aside and replaced with a sentence of twelve years’ imprisonment for each respondent, with two years suspended on condition that each respondent pay R3000 into the Guardian’s Fund for the benefit of the deceased’s minor children, and payment of R150 to Tommy Orie.

This case is a leading authority on sentencing for racially motivated crimes in South Africa. It affirms that racism is an aggravating, not mitigating, factor in sentencing and that courts must align sentencing policy with constitutional values of human dignity, equality, and non‑racialism. The judgment is frequently cited for its strong denunciation of racist violence and its articulation of the constitutional role of punishment.