The KwaZulu-Natal countryside has been rocked by yet another farm attack in which an elderly smallholder, Bill Theron (85), was gunned down at his home near Albert Falls Dam, in Crammond, on Saturday.
This comes hot on the heels of the murder of 80-year-old Mponzana Khumalo, who was shot in the chest while checking on the family’s cattle in Nkomba, near Muden, recently. While Khumalo was robbed of his cellphone and money then left tied to a tree, there was nothing taken from Theron.
A source who knew Theron said the retired farmer and his wife, Christine, used to farm eggs but had sold the property three to four years ago but still lived there. Christine was unharmed during the attack.
Apparently in the afternoon Theron had walked outside to put his bakkie away after the couple had gone shopping earlier in the day.
The source said Christine heard a gunshot and went outside where she found him lying dead at the gate. He was found with his bakkie keys still in his hand.
“There’s no motive, no witnesses, no clues. It’s just like when June Butler was murdered,” said the source.
Butler (78) who lived in an isolated home at Crammond was stabbed in January 2018 during a break in. She later died in hospital.
On Sunday provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Thembeka Mbele, said Theron had an open wound on his face but the forensic officers could not find the bullet or any other evidence that he had been shot. She said a post mortem would be conducted to determine the cause of death.
DA KZN spokesperson on agriculture and rural development, Chris Pappas, said it had become a typical scenario in farm attacks that someone was gunned down without motive or cause. He said little to no action has been taken on the recommendations by SAPS, the South African Human Rights Commission and stakeholders to try and solve farm and rural murders.
“The promises made just a few months ago by the Premier, MEC for Agriculture and the Minster of Police have now faded into memory.”
Vice-chairperson of SA Canegrowers, Dipuo Ntuli, is among those who have called on the government to act on what she described the barbaric killing of farmers.
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“People who are feeding our nation, assisting our economy and the government by creating jobs for majority of our people are slaughtered daily with no justice,” she said recently.
The Witness has been reporting extensively on the several attacks on the Midlands farmers this year including that of Glen and Vida Rafferty who were killed in Normandien area, in Newcastle, in August.
Other incidents included the slitting of the throat of the three-month pregnant Zakiyya Ahmedjan Ismail (26) at the Al-shukran Abbatoir and cattle farm in Weenen.
Last month Karkloof pensioner, Wendy Wilson, suffered a punctured lung and severe head injuries during an assault with a metal garden rake.
KZN police spokesperson, Colonel Thembeka Mbele did not respond to repeated inquiries by The Witness concerning the incident.