Durban - There were 15 murders and 67 attacks on KwaZulu-Natal farms last year, according to the province’s Agricultural Union. This was up from 10 murders and 47 attacks on KZN farms in 2013.
According to statistics provided by the union’s security desk manager, Koos Marais, and verified by police, there have been 793 farm attacks in the province since 2001 - 128 being murders.
Marais said farmers were considered easy targets for criminals.
This was borne out by the cases, some of which are highlighted below, that came before the Pietermaritzburg High Court in 2014.
Most ended with terms of life imprisonment being imposed on the perpetrators.
* In one of the most savage farm attacks in Midlands history, Richmond farmer Ekard Schutte, his wife, Elizabeth, and their son, Lutz, were slain on March 1.
Judge Louis Barnard sentenced Zamo Maduna, 19, Siphesihle Ngubane, 20, and Lindo-kuhle Khoza, 18, to three life terms each for the murders, 15 years for robbery with aggravated circumstances, and five years for the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
Maduna was employed as a gardener on the Schutte farm and was the mastermind behind the attack.
Ekard, 76, Elizabeth, 66, and their youngest son, Lutz, 33, were stabbed repeatedly, their throats slit and they were then doused with petrol and set alight.
Lutz had flown from Germany that day to celebrate what would have been his father’s 77th birthday the following day.
The bodies were found by their son, Stefan, when he arrived at the smallholding.
* Two men convicted of the murder of Underberg farmer and timber contractor, Dan Knight, were sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years for aggravated robbery and assault.
Judge Jerome Mnguni found Tsepiso Ramonyane and Bonginkosi Nyawose guilty of murder and aggravated robbery, as well as the assault and robbery of his partner, Beth Bucher, on their farm, Outlook, in October.
The couple were attacked by a gang of five men in balaclavas and dark clothes.
Knight was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, monkey wrench and other weapons.
Bucher was gagged with bandages and bound with cable ties and had a surgical glove pulled over her face in an attempt to suffocate her. She was also beaten and had the barrel of a gun shoved into her mouth.
* Siboniso Mtolo was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Eston sugar cane farmer, Mick Hampson.
Mtolo pleaded guilty to murder, as well as a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, for which he was given an additional 15 years by Judge Isaac Madondo.
Hampson, 69, was shot dead on September 27 last year when he and his son confronted two men trespassing on their farm.
Hampson and his son, Murray, were talking to a group of workers when they noticed two suspicious-looking men walking on their property.
Hampson instructed them to get onto the back of his bakkie and drove them towards his farmhouse to call the police.
Murray, who was armed with a shotgun, was sitting in the back of the bakkie with the men when they wrestled it out of his hands and shot Hampson.
The men then fled into the sugar cane plantation.
Hampson died on the scene.
* Nkosinathi Mngadi and Sifiso Ngubane were sentenced to life behind bars for the murder of Ixopo farmer, Peter Hackland, and a further 23 years for robbing and assaulting Hackland’s daughter, Louise Hartwig, and secretary, Margaret Fennel, on Cromleigh Farm on May 7.
Mngadi and Ngubane approached Hackland on the pretext of seeking work. They then drew guns and demanded money from him.
When he told them he had no money on the farm, the two assaulted and tortured his daughter and employee, punching and kicking them, and then threatening to shoot them.
They sprayed pepper spray in their victims’ faces, before again demanding money, but when no cash was forthcoming, they shot Hackland, killing him, and fled with his wallet and cellphone.
* A robber who murdered Dalton farmer, Abraham Wessels, because he was “glaring” at him, was sentenced to an effective 20 years in prison.
Ayanda Mathobela, 34, pleaded guilty, saying Wessels, 55, had looked aggressive during a robbery at his friend’s farm, Bell-view, on June 29.
Mathobela put the gun against Wessels’ head in an attempt to scare him, whereafter he accidentally pulled the trigger, killing him.
Mathobela said he and his two cohorts had planned to rob the couple who owned the farm because they were unemployed and needed money.
* The killers of KZN farmer, Willem Weites, also received a life sentence.
The men pleaded guilty to attacking Weites, 78, his daughter, Everlien, and their workers at their farm near Vryheid on the morning of October 21.
Everlien and her 76-year-old mother, Gerdina, were assaulted by the robbers, who made off with R40 000 in cash, jewellery, cellphones and the dairy farmer’s bakkie.
Weites was shot after he threw a spanner at the attackers, who were armed with knives and firearms.
The attackers had approached him on the pretext of buying milk, before producing weapons.
* The killers of slain Winterton restaurateur and mielie farmer, Rajoo Grewan, were also sentenced to life in prison.
Nhlanhla Gumbi and Siyethemba Mfeka were convicted of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Grewan, 41, who ran a restaurant on his Sophia’s Rust smallholding in Winterton with his wife, Philile, was shot on the night of June 7 after being attacked by two gun-wielding men.
He was confronted by his killers minutes after picking up Philile from a church service at his mother’s home.
The assailants held the couple at gunpoint, demanding cash.
Grewan, who was also armed, struggled with the gunman and was shot in the neck after a violent scuffle.
The killers then left in Grewan’s bakkie, taking Grewan with them, before dumping him in the mielie plantation bordering the property.
Still alive and struggling to survive, Grewan dragged himself back onto the road, where he was found by his sister, Anne.
He was rushed to hospital, but later died.
Daily News