The community of "Azania", which moved on to land owned by the Louiesenhof family trust was shocked by the murder of Stefan Smit at home on Sunday night, a community leader said on Monday.

"That is shocking. Who would do something like that?" asked Midas Wanana.

"It is very painful for us. We are sending condolences to his family. What are they going to do without him?"

Wanana added: "This is the police's work now".

                                   ^{Police car at Louiesenhof farm. (Jenni Evans)}

Wanana said the portion that the family owned, and that hundreds of backyarders had moved on to, originally called Watergang, has already been bought by the Stellenbosch municipality.

"The money is in the bank," he said.

Smit was killed early on Sunday evening in an apparent robbery which Western Cape police are investigating. Detectives were seen scouring the property for clues.

Stellenbosch Mayor Gesie van Deventer confirmed that the municipality purchased the land for R45 710 000 from the WS Smith Watergang Trust.

The purchase was negotiated by the municipal manager.

"The funds used to purchase this property comes from a provincial Department of Human Settlements grant," said Van Deventer in a statement."The property is currently in the process of being transferred to the municipality," she stated."We would like to reiterate the fact that we condemn the senseless killing of Mr Stefan Smit in the strongest possible terms and we send our heartfelt condolences to the Smit family and the broader Stellenbosch agricultural community."

Last year's occupation set off an interdict process to remove the occupants. The Western Cape High Court heard the matter. 

There were clashes with police during attempts to remove them.

In the meantime, on Monday Louiesenhof was still an active crime scene with forensics experts scouring the property.

It has a double fencing system with electric fence and barbed wire.

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