A 57-year old man was shot dead on a farm in Sannieshof, North West, on Tuesday evening and his wife is fighting for her life in hospital, police spokesperson Sergeant Kelebogile Moleko confirmed to HuffPost SA.
Moleko says three suspects entered the house of the deceased through a window and fired shots at the couple in their living room. The woman, shot in the hand and stomach, was critical but is now stable and recovering in a hospital in Klerksdorp. An elderly woman, 86, hid under the table and was unharmed.
The attackers escaped with three cellphones and a white Toyota Hilux bakkie.
AfriForum's Head of Community Safety, Ian Cameron, told HuffPostSA on Wednesday the "entire farming community from Lichtenberg, Coligny, Sannieshof, Delareyville, Klerksdorp and elsewhere reacted to the attack" and were sent to help. A police flying squad was deployed and "even the Hawks reacted", but none have been arrested, Cameron says.
Moleko confirmed an investigation iss underway but no arrests yet made.
This attack follows a murder on a farm in Bulwer, KwaZulu-Natal, on Wednesday last week in which a 64-year old man was killed on his farm and his house set alight. Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane on Wednesday morning said no arrests have yet been made and no information on the postmortem of the deceased is immediately available.
Recent reports of attacks on farms include the murders of Piet van den Berg and Tsietso Matsabisa on the Pharoosfontein farm in the Free State on 20 April. Three suspects were arrested and appeared in court five days later.
* Correction: The cause of death of the 64-year old man killed on his farm in KwaZulu-Natal is yet to be confirmed. An earlier version of this report stated the man had been stabbed with a garden fork but the investigation is yet to reveal conclusive results as to his cause of his death.