JOHANNESBURG — Police in South Africa have arrested five suspects in connection with a violent farm robbery in the North West province in which a 50-year-old farmer was shot and had his ears cut off.
The suspects, aged 26 to 56, are expected to appear before the Ventersdorp magistrates’ court on Tuesday on charges of house robbery, attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, Col. Adele Mybrugh said Monday.
Police initially arrested two suspects before detaining three more on Sunday near Potchefstroom, about 120 kilometers (74 miles) west-southwest of Johannesburg. Officers seized four firearms, two of which were linked to the attack, along with clothing and jewelry.
The attack occurred Oct. 28 on a farm in Syferfontein, near Ventersdorp, in North West province. Three armed men wearing balaclavas confronted a farmworker mowing the lawn, demanded to know where the owner was, and bound his hands and feet with cable ties, police said.
When the farmer arrived, the attackers shot him in the upper body, dragged him inside, bound him and stabbed and assaulted him. They stole three firearms from a safe and fled in his pickup truck, police said.
The worker freed himself and called for help. The farmer was hospitalized in serious condition.
The Moral Regeneration Movement, a civil society organization, identified the farmer as Donovan Marx and said Monday that he was recovering in the hospital.
Farm attacks affect both Black and white farmers, workers and residents. Research by the Institute for Security Studies points to robbery as the predominant motive and has found no evidence of an organized campaign against white farmers or a “ white genocide ” as the Trump administration has claimed.
“Any attack on farmers represents a serious threat to food security,” said the movement’s provincial convenor, Pastor Lesiba Kgwele.
Kgwele called for increased police visibility in farming communities and cautioned against using crime to fuel racial hatred and division.
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