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Coetsee , Zirk Burger (Z B)

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Identity
Person No.
29784
Service No.
85258192PE
Last Name
First Name
Zirk Burger
Initials
Z B
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
30
Death Record
Cause code
Cause of Death
Lieutenant Sibusiso Madubela went on a murder rampage at 1 South African Infantry Battalion because of a salary problem, which he caused by himself for being Absent Without Leave (AWOL), and systematically started shooting serving members and civilian employees with his R4 Assault Rifle. His rampage came to an abrupt end when he was intercepted and shot dead by Lieutenant Anton Otto and Warrant Officer Class I Aldo Mattheus (who was also wounded in the fire-fight) while on his way back to the Unit Armoury to replenish his ammunition. Seven SANDF members and one female civilian employee were killed, and twelve SANDF members were wounded, one of them critically
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Major
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SANDF 1,041
South African National Defence Force
Unit History
Role at time of death
Infantry (Mechanised)
Status
Permanent Force (Regular)
Part of
Listed under South African Army Infantry (Mechanised) (Regular) in the SA Army Units navbox.
Notes

Husband of Mrs. L. Coetsee

Research notes


Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 16 Sep 2026: 85258129PE Major Zirk Burger Coetzee, critically wounded in the same rampage, succumbed to his wounds in Pelonomie Hospital on 22 Sep 1999, age 31. CauseDeath clarified (see Coetzer 29807 note). MATCHES this existing record (stored as "Coetsee", ServiceNo "85258192PE") on FirstName/Initials/Rank/DateDeath exactly -- CONFLICTS flagged, not changed: surname spelling "Coetsee" vs Graham's "Coetzee" (a plausible alternate Afrikaans spelling, not necessarily an error), ServiceNo "85258192PE" vs Graham's "85258129PE" (the last two digits look transposed -- 92 vs 29 -- not resolved which is correct), and age 31 vs stored Age 30.
Col (rt) Graham du Toit Last Post 22 Sep 2026: "85258129PE Major Zirk Burger Coetzee was critically wounded... on 16 September 1999 when one of the Units members, Lieutenant Sibusiso Madubela went on a murder rampage at the Unit... Major Coetzee sadly succumbed to his wounds in the Pelonomie Hospital on 22 Sep 1999. He was 31." THIS MAN IS THE NINTH DEATH OF THE 1 SAI SHOOTING of 16 September 1999 -- the eight killed that day are already on this roll and were worked through on 16 Sep 2026, including the civilian Miss Marita Marlene Hamilton (30605). He died of his wounds six days later. THREE CONFLICTS flagged, not changed: surname (Graham "Coetzee", this record "Coetsee"), service number (Graham 85258129PE, this record 85258192PE -- the last two digits transposed), and age (Graham 31, this record 30).
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" was CLEARED as a duplicate. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word repeating what the Branch column already says. Secondary Unit is for sub-units -- a company, a squadron, a commando -- and this record's branch of service is unchanged at "Army".

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