In September 2017, 62-year-old Craig Smith, a longtime sugar-cane farmer on his farm 60 km's from Pietermaritzburg in Mid Illovo, was beaten to death in his rundown farmhouse.
Craig had suffered previous heart attacks and a severe stroke and was preparing to move closer to town for safety after years of his family's pleas. But intruders who had been staking out his home rushed him upon his return from town one evening. They forced him to open a safe, stole a few firearms and some jewelry, then tied his hands and feet with electrical cables and bludgeoned him to death with his own walking stick. Empty soft-drink cans from his fridge showed the killers casually drank in his living room before driving off in his car.
This kindhearted man who spoke Zulu fluently, had employed and cared for dozens of African farm-workers over more than 30 years, and even organized schooling for them and their children, was left to die in a horrific and undeserved end. Nothing justifies this savage brutality against White farmers.
The ANC government and figures like Julius Malema continue to ignore and downplay these farm attacks while White farmers are slaughtered on their own land.
Another innocent farmer brutally murdered in South Africa. On 24 October 2017, 47-year-old Joubert Conradie, a hardworking wine farmer on Uitkyk Farm in Klapmuts near Stellenbosch, was gunned down in his own home.
In the early hours, just before 1:00 am, Joubert heard a noise in his residence and went to investigate. He was immediately attacked and shot multiple times by unknown suspects who then fled the scene empty-handed. NOTHING WAS STOLEN. Joubert was rushed to Stellenbosch Mediclinic where he underwent emergency surgery but succumbed to his severe gunshot wounds.
This dedicated father and husband leaves behind his wife Marlene and their two children, including 15-year-old son Hannes. Another life senselessly erased in the ongoing slaughter of White farmers that the ANC government refuses to acknowledge or stop.
How many more White farmers must die before the world wakes up to these farm attacks?
Protest images from the aftermath showing the family's grief and community response.
Another innocent farmer brutally murdered in her own bed in South Africa. On 28 October 2017, 52-year-old Sharon Bester, a hardworking tomato farmer on Zout van de Aarde farm in the Albertinia area of the Western Cape, was found dead in her bed by a worker who came to care for her dogs.
Sharon lived alone on the farm and was strangled to death. Initially, her death was thought to be from a stroke, but the autopsy report revealed the horrifying truth; she had been murdered by strangulation. A 20-year-old worker on her farm, Johannes Bangiso, was arrested after being seen driving her Land Rover. He was also found with her laptop and tablet. He was later sentenced to 22 years for the murder.
This dedicated farmer's life was cruelly taken in her most vulnerable moment, with nothing but betrayal from someone she employed. The ANC government continues to ignore and downplay these farm attacks on White farmers while our people are slaughtered on their own land.
On 30 October 2017, 73-year-old Bokkie Potgieter was hacked to death with a panga while building a chicken run on his property in KwaDikadika, Gelukstad near Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal.
The attack was so savage that his face was left completely unrecognizable. The attacker repeatedly hit the elderly farmer in the face and body with the panga, then dragged his dying body by the feet, shoved him head-first into his own bakkie, and drove off with one of Potgieter's feet dangling out the window. The killer crashed the vehicle shortly after and was beaten by angry community members, later dying from his injuries.
Bokkie Potgieter, a retired vegetable farmer who had lived in the area for 10 years, was targeted in this horrific assault amid the #BlackMonday protests against farm murders. This brutal killing of a vulnerable elderly man highlights the ongoing slaughter that the ANC government refuses to acknowledge or stop.
On the night of 3 June 2026, near Ridgeback Winery in Paarl, a family was invaded in their home by five Black men wearing balaclavas.
The armed suspects tied up the entire family during the brutal home invasion and robbed them while they were helpless and bound.
This vicious attack happened in the Western Cape winelands, an area with a long history of similar farm attacks involving balaclava-wearing thugs, victims being tied up or assaulted, theft of firearms, and far too often ending in murder.
Another farm invasion was reported the same night in the nearby Stellenbosch area, with limited details available.