A new spate of farm murders hit South Africa in recent days, prompting urgent calls for the government to curb the scourge exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest murder involved a pregnant woman who was murdered during a home invasion on her farm in Weenen, KwaZulu-Natal Province, police said on Sunday.
Three men wearing face masks stormed the 26-year-old woman’s home at around 7:00 p.m. local time on Saturday, demanding cash from the family, police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said.
The attackers escaped after the murder.
The woman’s husband managed to run away and their two kids were unharmed, according to Gwala.
The incident came one day after well-known Afrikaans singer Wynand Breedt was shot and killed on his farm outside Worcester near Cape Town on Friday evening.
In South Africa which is among the countries that have the highest crime rate in the world, the rise in farm murders has become a focus of attention.
According to AfriForum, there were 552 farm attacks in 2019 as opposed to 433 in 2018, translating to an increase of about 27 percent.
Almost 1,000 people were victims of these 552 attacks, the group said.
