“We have done what we wanted to do,” fiancée heard after farm murder

Survivors of farm attacks tell their horrific stories in new documentary series

“We have done what we wanted to do.” This is what Mariaan Brits had to hear shortly after her fiancé, Robert Stander, was shot and killed in a 2021 farm attack in Muldersdrift. In yet another attack, this time in 2020 on a farm east of Pretoria, Joey and Leon Kruger had to watch as an attacker held a gun to their crying seven-year-old son’s head and threatened to shoot him. These and other emotionally loaded stories – as told by the survivors of farm attacks – form part of a new five-part documentary series that has just been released by AfriForum. The first two episodes are already available on YouTube and the complete series will be available on AfriForum TV on 16 February.  

In this series, titled Resilient voices: Survivors of farm attacks tell their stories, the experiences of victims of violent farm attacks in South Africa are revealed in shocking detail.

“Farm attacks and murders are a harsh reality in South Africa. It’s shameful that we have a government who denies or downplays these crimes, while we have political parties like the EFF who openly chant ‘Kill the Boer, kill the farmer’ at political rallies,” says Jacques Broodryk, director of the series and Chief Spokesperson at AfriForum’s division for Community Safety.

According to Broodryk, it is essential to tell these stories and for the international community to take note of victims’ experiences in these unimaginable violent attacks. “These are real people who suffered real horrors,” concludes Broodryk.

AfriForum has established 172 civilian safety structures countrywide and will continue to empower rural and urban communities to take their safety into their own hands, in collaboration with the authorities and within the confines of the law. The organisation also offers trauma counselling to victims of farm attacks.