The Free State police are investigating a brutal attack on an 82-year old farmer situated between Hobhouse and Ladybrand. On Tuesday night, Sello Matlolane was assaulted by three men shortly after he returned from dropping workers.
One of the attackers were armed, confirms Matlolane’s 51-year-old son Paddy. He tells Food For Mzansi one of the attackers emerged from a nearby maize field while the others came from different parts of the farm
“They started fighting him and assaulting him and they pushed him down and tried to throttle him,” says Paddy Matlolane.
“They pushed a shoe against his neck. He [the elderly farmer] said he thought he was going to die because he was running out of oxygen. He could not breathe anymore.”
One of the attackers allegedly also told Sello Matlolane that they were going to kill him if he didn’t give them money.
“My father started cooperating and told them, ‘I’ve got it. Come and have it.’”
The attackers then put him in the backseat of his Double Cab bakkie, nestled between two of the men. They drove towards the garage on the Matlolane farm. When they got there, they apparently started shouting because they believed that they weren’t alone.
Elderly farmer’s brave escape
Coincidentally, one of the farmworkers heard the commotion and called for help when he realised that Sello’s life was in danger. “After that I was called, and I called the police,” explains Paddy.
According to Paddy the attackers demanded money. His father’s first instinct was to trick them to a wrong location.
“They told my father he is making them a fool and threatened him. He told them that he wasn’t. He was just confused because he was terrified of dying. He then directed them to the mini tuckshop where the money was stored.”
The men took about R1 200 at the shop. Paddy says, “They had already taken R200 from his back pocket as he was entering the kraal, so all in all it was R1400. They also took his phone.”
The elderly Sello managed to escape through a sliding door and jumped over a 1.2 metre high fencing with devil forks, hurting his shoulder in the process.
He then ran at least half a kilometre to get help from his neighbours and workers.
According to Paddy the police arrived upon their return to the farm. While fleeing, the intruders seemed to have dropped the bakkie keys and, as a result, they could not get away with the vehicle.
Paddy then undertook a journey of nearly 500km from Pretoria to his father who was admitted in a hospital in Hobhouse. He arrived there at 02:00 this morning (Wednesday, 30 June 2021). Sello has since been discharged and the police are investigating the matter.
Last month, Free State Agriculture revealed that 71 towns in the province were affected by farm attacks and murders between 2016 and 2021.
“What is worrying is that the increase took place during the state of confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic where more visibility of the police and law enforcement was in place,” said a concerned Dr Jane Buys, security risk analyst.
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