Another brutal farm attack in South Africa but President Cyril Ramaphosa remains silent

Freedom Front Plus leader Corné Mulder said that despite another brutal farm attack on an elderly couple, President Cyril Ramaphosa remains silent as if nothing happened.

On Sunday, 1 November 2026, Les Brett, 67, and his wife, Natasha, 68, were attacked on a smallholding near Broederstroom.

They were brutally tortured for hours, with the attackers using boiling water to burn their victims.

The injuries to Les Brett’s face and arms are so severe that it looks like he was involved in a serious car accident.

“The worst torture must have been witnessing Ms Brett being assaulted,” Mulder said in a press statement.

This was the third brutal farm attack over the last few weeks. Last week, Donovan Marx was tortured, his ears cut off, and shot in the back.

Just a few weeks before, Hannetjie van Zyl was beaten to death while opening the gate to her farm near Ottosdal.

Mulder accused President Ramaphosa of continuing to deny the reality of brutal farm attacks in South Africa.  

He cited a Bloomberg interview on 26 September 2018, in which Ramaphosa claimed that there were no killings of white farmers in South Africa.

He said that farmers are the ones who, despite difficult circumstances and a harsh climate, ensure that South Africans have quality food on their tables.

“What they get in return is a president who turns a blind eye to their plight and refuses to lift a finger when South Africa is kicked out of its AGOA trade agreement,” he said.

“Moreover, stakeholders who bring this crisis to the attention of the world are insulted and threatened by dishonest commentators and a callous government.”

Mulder said that they will continue to shine the spotlight on injustices such as farm attacks until the pressure on the government becomes so great that it is forced to act.

Ian Cameron shares Mulder’s concerns

Ian Cameron, the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, shares Mulder’s concerns.

Cameron said that the torture of Donovan Marx showed why the unique characteristics of farm attacks demand focused, priority policing.

He said that, although not all farm attacks involve torture, it is a common occurrence where the brutality raises concerns.

“I have attended farm attack scenes where victims had boiling water poured over them, burned with clothing irons, or had holes drilled through their hands and feet,” he said.

“Some attacks involve victims being held captive and tortured for hours. I have seen the consequences of this cruelty firsthand.”

He said that the duration and severity of that violence, combined with rural isolation and the distance from assistance, require a response designed for those circumstances.

“The South African Police Service’s (SAPS’s) 2019 National Rural Safety Strategy recognises farm attacks as unique,” Cameron said.

He argued that dismissing farm attacks by pointing to other violent crime is an unfair comparison.

He also condemned the use of ‘Kill the Boer’ on political stages and any celebration of farm murders on social media.

“Political leaders should condemn the glorification of violence, not participate in it or make excuses for it,” he said.

Cameron called on the North West Police to prioritise Donovan’s case and support experienced detectives with forensic and intelligence capacity.

“Beyond this investigation, rural safety requires properly equipped police officers who can reach the people they are responsible for protecting,” he said.

Cyril Ramaphosa’s silence about farm attacks and murders is nothing new

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s silence on attacks and murders on South African farms is nothing new.

In June 2020, Dianne Kohler, the DA’s former Shadow Minister of State Security, wrote a letter to Ramaphosa about the issue.

“Black and white farmers, farm workers, and visitors to farms were being killed, and are still being killed today,” she said.

“These murders often involve the most terrible torture of the farmers and farm workers, their parents, their wives, and their children.”

“Farmers and farm workers in South Africa, instead of being supported as workers within a Strategic Asset, feel that they have become persona non grata.”

“Your denial that farmers are being murdered caused them extreme hurt and offence, in that it was just not true.”