Terrible murders brought to life

True-crime series Niggies tells the story of the rape and murder of two 12-year-olds in 1966 Free State. It's excellent, if harrowing, viewing. By Marianne Thamm

- Marianne Thamm

The nine-part, true-crime series Niggies (Cousins) is a gripping South African stand-out addition to this popular genre.

The disappearance of six-year-old Joshlin Smith was the real-time backdrop for the release on 25 March on DStv Streaming (scheduled for later on Showmax) of Niggies, set in the northern Free State goldfields in 1966.

The media frenzy, the fear that rippled through the community and the hunting down of suspects in Free State’s Odendaalsrus is redolent of events in the Middelpos informal settlement in Diazville, Saldanha Bay, when Joshlin vanished.

Two cousins, Issie Fourie and Petro Nel, both 12, disappeared after leaving to swim at the municipal pool. Later, after a massive search by police and community members, the girls were found in an abandoned building, bound, each with a shot to the back of the head. Police confirmed both girls had been violently raped.

The horror

Though 58 years separate the Smith and Fourie-Nel cases, they captured national attention because of the horror of these stories.

The National Party, with HF Verwoerd as its leader, won a comprehensive victory in 1966, strengthening the power of the ruling party. It gained a two-thirds majority in Parliament. District Six in Cape Town was declared “white” and in September, Communist Party member and messenger Dimitri Tsafendas assassinated Verwoerd.