Divided by 30 years, two brutal men held a city and a town ransom during a reign of terror. One went undetected by the police for two years yet hid in plain sight, whilst the other committed murder for three years in full sight of the police. One was a low-life White man, whilst the other was a royal-descendant Black man. Ironically the White man was elevated to hero status in the town he operated, as he hunted Black people much like slave-owners hunted escaped enslaved people centuries ago, whilst the Black man was regarded as a menial labourer and ignored, much as enslaved people were reduced to non-entities centuries ago. Both were at some stage employed by the police, both enjoyed killing members of the opposite race against the backdrop of political unrest in South Africa, and both were brought to justice by the regimes they abhorred. Besides their skin colour, there was not much difference between them.
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings, transitions of time, duality and endings. Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. He is depicted as a two-faced god. Phineas Tshitaudzi, the Pangaman and Louis van Schoor, the Apartheid Killer, represent the two faces of Janus, who operated in times of violent transition.
Phineas’ narrative begins in the mid 1940’s in the time when the White National Party governed South Africa, from its capital Pretoria. He operated in the areas of Boer Forts, bastions of White military defence built to protect Pretoria in the late 1800’s. His reign of terror ended when he was hanged in 1960, just before South Africa gained independence and became a republic in 1961. On the other side of Roman god Janus’ face, Louis’ narrative reached its peak during the National Party’s State of Emergency in the mid 1980’s, when riots, violence and dissidence erupted like wildfire across the land. He operated in a town called East London. Scarcely 203 kilometers away from East London lies the tiny village of Mveso, where Nelson Mandela was born, a descendant from a royal African family, the Thembu Xhosa clan. The Eastern Cape province is a bastion of the Xhosa’s. Louis’ reign of terror ended in the early 1990’s, when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the tide turned in favour of a Black government, and Nelson Mandela became president.
The Rise of the Pangaman
Since 1946, for six years, a gang of five robbers operated in the Fountains Valley targeting Klapperkop Fort, Skanskop Fort, Swartkoppies, the Union Buildings, Meintjieskop, Tom Jenkins Drive, and the residential area of Queenswood by attacking couples making out in their cars. By 1957 four of them were arrested, but the fifth member managed to evade arrest. Phineas Tshitaudzi decided to go solo and manufactured a fearsome weapon, a panga or machete, to attack White couples watching the sunset at Fort Klapperkop. He would silently approach the cars and then viciously hacked at the limbs of the men and raped the women. Some victims lost their limbs and others were severely wounded, but by a miracle, none of them died.
A task force led by Captain Fred van Niekerk, including Warrant officer Johan Momberg was established to investigate the case, but the Pangaman managed to elude them for years. Every trap they had set for him was foiled. Little did they know the notorious Pangaman had inside information. He was hiding in plain sight.
Then in a stroke of luck in September 1959 a victim managed to give a very good description of his assailant and a Military Policeman recognized the description as that of Phineas Tshitaudzi who worked as a night watchman and a cleaner at the South African Police headquarters in Pretoria. Phineas was arrested by Warrant-officer Momberg at the police headquarters called Wachthuis (where later I had my office too) and during his interrogation he confessed to being the Pangaman. The panga, jewelry and clothing of his victims were discovered in his house.
While he was a watchman and a cleaner at the police headquarters, he would often eavesdrop on the generals as they discussed the Pangaman investigation. Perhaps the police generals regarded the menial cleaner in the boardroom as a deaf-mute. They clearly underestimated the royal born man who had a military history, for in 1941 Phineas was one of 100 men who joined the Native Military Corps (NMC) during World War II. He probably saw action in the North African campaign where he participated in battles such as El Alamein. He must have returned home either late in 1945 or early in 1946, after the war had ended. As a war veteran and a descendant from the royal Zimbabwean clan who had located to South Africa in the 1800’s, Phineas’ disdain and contempt for the generals who regarded him as a non-entity must have been hard to control. Every time they openly discussed the Pangaman investigation, paying no attention to the presence of the cleaner who was silently polishing floors in their office, he must have experienced such hatred and vengeful thoughts against these representatives of a White regime.
On 6 May 1960, Phineas was sentenced to six years each for three charges of assault with the intention to murder, four years each for two charges with the intent to rape, two years for assault, one year for robbery and one year for theft. He was sentenced to death for two rapes and three charges of assault with the intention to murder and to rob. On 14 November 1960, Phineas approached the gallows and his last statement was that God should give that every policeman and prison warden should die and that South Africa should be returned to Black people. He was hanged a few minutes later. Thirty years later one of his wishes came true when the regime changed hands from white to black.
The Apartheid Killer
Louis van Schoor, was a policeman and security guard who committed murders between 1986 and 1989 in the town of East London.
In the 1980’s during the Apartheid Era South Africa was experiencing turbulent times, with riots and uprisings in the so-called “Black Townships”. The country was literally set on fire. Police responded with the Internal Stability Units – of which Uyselen Nel and Kobus Geldenhuys, the killer-cops of episodes 1 and 2 of this trilogy, were members. On 20 July 1985, the Government declared a State of Emergency, initially covering the Eastern Cape Province – including East London – and the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vaal (PWV) area. Thousands of people were detained. A few months later, the State of Emergency was extended to the Western Cape Province. The Police and Defence Forces practically had carte blanche and the media was restricted severely to report on anything – I remember this well, for I was a journalist back then.
Louis was a member of the K9 squad, the police tracker dogs. Officially these dogs were used for crowd control during riots, but Louis used them to hunt humans. After 12 years in the K9-unit, Louis decided to quit the police and to become a security guard in East London, hired by local businesses. Under the guise of security guard, Louis continued to hunt down and kill people. Once alerted to a burglar inside a building he would approach barefooted and stalk his victim. Unlike Kobus Geldenhuys, he never switched on the light. In a BBC interview, he said he relied on his sense of smell. “If somebody breaks in, the adrenaline gives off an odour. And you can pick that up”. Louis acted very similar to the tracker dogs he handled in the police.
Just as brutal as Phineas, Louis would fire his 9mm semi-automatic pistol at his unarmed targets, kicked the wounded men – one of them a 12-year-old boy – and fired several more shots into their bodies lying helplessly on the ground. Several of his victims miraculously survived, as Phineas’ victims also miraculously survived. Louis said he acted within the parameters of the law and reported all his killings to the police, who sanctioned them as justifiable homicide.
Kobus Geldenhuys, the killer-cop in episode 2 of this trilogy, was invisible in his police uniform, Phineas Tshitaudzi was invisible in his cleaner’s over-all, but Louis van Schoor committed murder in plain sight and became a hero in the town of East London.
Tides turn and in February 1990 Nelson Mandela was released from prison and soon after became president. Louis sold his business and retired to a small holding. His home was petrol bombed. Due to pressure from journalists and activists, 39-year-old Louis van Schoor was arrested in 1991, leading to one of the largest murder trials in the history of South Africa. He was charged with the murder of 19 people, 21 attempted murders and three assault charges. During the 8-month trial the State dropped 11 murder charges and all the assault charges. Testimony such as that from the young boy who was shot and other survivors were declared “unsophisticated” and “unreliable”. Eventually in 1992 he was convicted on only seven murders and two assassinations. He was sentenced to more than 90 years in prison but the judge allowed him to serve each term concurrently. His other 32 killings are still classified as “justifiable homicides” by the police.
Louis was released on parole in 2004, after serving 12 years in prison. After his release Louis lived his life out in squalid poverty, In 2022 both his legs were amputated. When asked why he killed the people Louis had a similar answer than Kobus Geldenhuys. In an interview with the BBC he said: “Every night is a new adventure, if you want to put it that way.” Like Kobus Geldenhuys, Louis van Schoor was a psychopath without emotion – they need thrill and excitement to feel alive. Despite all his victims being Black people, he claimed he never went out “with the intention of killing Black people” and denied being a racist. According to Louis his crimes were not politically motivated – he found stalking his victims in the dark “exciting”. He had no remorse and felt no guilt. On 25 July 2024 he died due to sepsis in his amputated legs. He wanted to be known as a peaceful, loving, caring person.
It is unusual for serial killers to target victims of a different race. Technically Phineas Tshitaudzi is not a serial killer, but although his victims did not die, it was his intention to kill them. In both cases these men almost exclusively targeted members of a different race. Phineas clearly stated he wished the country to be returned to Black people, which eventually came true, as the majority white National Party (founded in 1914 in Bloemfontein) governed South Africa from 4 June 1948, until the majority black African National Council party (founded in 1912 in Bloemfontein) won the democratic election on May 1994.
Both men initially profited from their crimes, but I doubt their main motivation was profit. Some serial killers take souvenirs from their victims and sell them. Louis enjoyed killing, whether he was compensated for it or not. Phineas enjoyed killing and sent his spoils home to his community. Both these men were probably using racial tensions as a cover up for their true motivation – they were brutal predators, seeking excitement to relieve the apathy that psychopaths experience. Apart from their skin colour, they were not that different from each other after all.
Top image: Phineas Tshitaudzi, the Pangaman during his court appearance in 1960. Photo: The e-Nongqai vol 4 no3. (Limpopo Mirror), Roman god Janus (CC-by-SA 3.0) and serial killer Louis Van Schoor photographed for an interview by the BBC in 2024 shortly before his demise.( Viggosway / CC BY-SA 4.0)
