During the late 1940s and early 1950s a notorious vagabond called John Kepe had the town of Somerset East up in arms with a series of petty burglaries, incidences of stock theft and mountainside muggings on the locals.
By the year 1950, local police were logging approximately one incident a week of stock theft and house burglaries from farmers in the Boschberg area. In the meantime, Kepe had succeeded in keeping his true identity as the mysterious Boschberg outlaw a secret. He came into town from time to time to socialise at the community drinking hall and would even join search parties and go on the hunt for himself. John Kepe had garnered a reputation among locals. He lived in a secret cave up in the Boschberg and stashed all his ill-gotten gains in another cave nearby.
In December 1951 Kepe killed a shepherd and the search for him was stepped up. On the night of 25 February 1952, he was arrested in an ambush and later found guilty by a court of law and executed by hanging at the Pretoria.
A film called “Sew the Winter to My Skin” based on the story of Kepe came out in 2018.
