TUESDAY, 12.45PM:
AGRICULTURAL unions said on Monday they believe racial attacks on farms are escalating following the murder of two farmers in two days.
Police disagree, however. Investigative ask unit spokesman Superintendent Martin Aylward said although the weekend “was a bit tough”, the police are confident that they are winning the battle against people “taking advantage of the farming community”.
Meanwhile, adding to the weekend’s toll, the wife of a Warmbaths farmer was murdered for her handbag on a deserted dust road on Monday afternoon. Peter Marais, Sheila’s husband, found her slumped at the wheel of her car on the road leading to their farm Newlands outside Warmbaths, Northern province police representative Ronel Otto said on Tuesday.
On Monday, an elderly KwaZulu-Natal farmer was shot dead and his wife pistol whipped on their farm in the Midlands. Police spokesman Superintendent Henry Budram said Dave Ronaldson, 68, was shot in the stomach when he opened his door, expecting to find an invited guest. The three armed men then pistol whipped Faye Ronaldson, 65, and forced her into the house. The men fled when she grabbed her own firearm while they were in the bedroom, and fired at them.
On the weekend, a Bothasville farmer was shot and seriously wounded when two or three men ambushed him and his family when they returned home on Sunday night. Hennie Louwrens returned fire, only realising later that he had been shot in the abdomen.