This latest farm attack on 19 October in Mpumalanga and followed a 13 October attack in Limpopo where a farmer was able to shoot and wound one of his approximately 12 attackers.
According to the Mpumalanga SAPS, the latest incident involved a farmer on Springfontein Farm in the Amersfoort area. The farmer, identified by Maroela Media as Natie van der Merwe (53), was reportedly approached by four men who asked him for employment.
Van der Merwe had reportedly, as a precaution, already armed himself in anticipation of talking to the men.
Mpumalanga SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, told Farmer’s Weekly that when Van der Merwe told the men he did not have work for them and asked them men to leave the farm, they allegedly refused to do so.
“[The farmer] called his wife to phone the police to remove them from the farm. The suspects withdrew their firearms and fired shots [at the farmer], [and] the complainant also fired shots [back],” said Mohlala.
One suspect died on the scene, and another was wounded. Police arrested the wounded suspect and hospitalised him under police guard, and also arrested the remaining two suspects. Police recovered two firearms from the suspects.
