[caption id="attachment_105683" align="alignright" width="204"] Johan van der Berg[/caption]
Family in shock after man stabbed to death in Greenbushes home
A PORT Elizabeth family spoke of their devastation yesterday following the brutal murder of retired Telkom technician-turned-businessman Johan van der Berg on his smallholding in Greenbushes at the weekend.
Van der Berg, 54, was viciously stabbed in an attack either late on Friday or in the early hours of Saturday.
The motive appears to have been robbery.
Van der Berg’s ex-wife, Petro, 42, who lives in a separate house on the smallholding about 20m from his home, found his partly clothed body face down in a pool of blood in the passage shortly after 8am on Saturday when she went to the house to borrow milk.
The smallholding is on the Seaview Road, near the Lakeside Road turnoff.
Yesterday, a visibly traumatised Petro, who lives with her youngest daughter Monique, 17, said the family was devastated by Van der Berg’s murder.
“We are all still in shock and all three of his daughters are shattered by this attack,” she said tearfully.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook and messages are pouring in from people all over the country.
“Several people have come to the house to see if we are OK. The support from the community has been outstanding.”
Petro said this was the second incident at the house in recent months. Van der Berg had been burgled in April while he was asleep.
Monique, due to start her matric exams next week, had been staying at a friend’s house since the attack and could not stop crying.
Van der Berg’s eldest daughter, Jenell Ashworth, 29, who lives in Port Elizabeth, was at the house yesterday while his other daughter, Juhanay Nel, 25, is in Saudi Arabia.
“She [Nel] is trying to get back to South Africa,” Petro said. “There are issues with tickets and visas that she is trying to sort out.”
Nel and Ashworth both got married this year.
“He [Van der Berg] was so proud of his daughters and would do anything for them,” Petro said.
Although they had been divorced for eight years, Petro described her ex-husband as a close friend who was religious and caring by nature.
“We were close even though we were divorced,” she said. “We lived on the same property, so we spoke all the time.
“He was the type of person who would do anything to help a friend or someone in need. There were numerous times he heard of people nearby who were struggling or without food.
-Gareth Wilson