The DA claims there has been an "upsurge" in the number of farm attacks in South Africa since the start of the national lockdown.

Claims of kingpins in charge of well-planned crime operations with connections in government, highly trained hit squads using children to secure intelligence in farm attacks, occasional acts of intimidation to force landowners from their property, and inhuman physical trauma inflicted on victims of such heinous crimes speak of the evil that characterizes incidents committed against inhabitants of some of the remotest locations in South Africa.

When she hears of a farming family being brutally attacked, tortured or murdered, Bloemfontein emerging farmer Mimmie Jakobs has flashbacks to the moment three men burst into her home.

“How much do you know about farming?” asked Gilly Scheepers, standing on the road between two fields on his Bloukruin Farm in Paul Roux, eastern Free State, before describing the murder of 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner.