Delmas — Grief and anger filled the Delmas Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 10 February 2026 as Adriaan van Tonder (71) made his first court appearance on a charge of murder after fatally shooting Calvin Mothoa (33), allegedly during a dispute over water access at shared property in Eloff.
Speaking outside court, Mothoa’s mother, Glory Mothoa, said tensions over water access had been ongoing. “The suspect is always closing the water since the meter box is on his side,” she said. “The painful part is that he shot my son straight in the eye. We are going to bury him without an eye. After shooting him, he just sat and smiled like nothing happened, even in court he was smiling.”
She added that Mothoa’s wife is now left caring for their children while pregnant. “My daughter-in-law is left alone with the children, and she is pregnant.”Police said that due to the water supply interruptions, the landlord had installed a JoJo tank in the garage to be used when municipal water was unavailable. The tank was located on the suspect’s side of the property.
The deceased allegedly attempted to enter the garage to access the pressure pump but van Tonder refused him entry.
“The deceased then allegedly forced his way to the tap, at which point the suspect shot him at close range, striking him in the left eye,” said the Mpumalanga Provincial Commissioner via a media statement.
The deceased’s wife tried to assist her husband but was allegedly threatened by van Tonder. Police said the suspect warned that he would also shoot her, forcing her to flee the scene.
About more than 100 community members gathered after the shooting and became “extremely agitated”, threatening to kill the suspect and burn down the house.
Police intervened and arrested him. The matter was postponed to 17 February for a formal bail application.
There were claims on social media that the dispute was ignited by a municipality's water supply shortages. Victor Khanye Local Municipality (VKLM) has rejected claims that the killing was linked to a local water supply crisis.
In a statement the municipality said, “We wish to place on record that this narrative is misleading and factually incorrect. At the time of the incident, there was water supply available in Sundra and Eloff. Municipal records and operational reports confirm that the area was receiving water and there was no service outage reported that could have contributed to the incident.”
