Divorcee Chantel Kershaw, 44, (left and right) was ambushed by two armed black men while working her land in Delmas east of Johannesburg on Wednesday
Divorcee Chantel Kershaw, 44, was ambushed by two armed black men while working her land in Delmas east of Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Kershaw's underwear was ripped off and stuffed into her mouth and she was strangled to death inside her garage.
The two horrific attacks were 180 miles apart on remote farmland
Kershaw was attacked while helping to a load a lawnmower onto a truck.
The men stripped her and then held her down on the floor of the garage at her farm as they strangled her.
Her distraught mother Greta Spiers, 65, was bludgeoned over the head with a pistol and she, along with a maid, was restrained as the farm was looted.
The two men fled in the family's white Chevrolet station wagon but were chased down by neighbourhood watch farmers who forced the stolen vehicle off the road in a high speed chase.
The neighbourhood watch were alerted by Kershaw's mother and captured the suspects who were handed over to police.
A farm hand who was stripped and tied up by the raiders was later arrested after the cell phone numbers of the two suspects were found in his phone.
In a separate incident, 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner was brutally tortured on Friday and discovered dead the next day, covered in blood and tied to a post in Paul Roux, Free State province.
Police spokesman Brigadier Leonard Hiathi said: 'Chantel asked an employee to help her load a lawnmower into a truck when she suddenly saw two armed men inside her yard.
'They told the employee to take his clothes off and tied him up and then attacked the woman who was screaming for help and strangled her and then went into the house.
'The victim's mother was assaulted with a firearm and the house was robbed.
'A high speed chase ensued between the suspects and the neighbourhood watch group which resulted in the suspects overturning their vehicles and crawling out to escape.
'But they were caught and handed over to the police who opened a case or robbery and murder and a firearm was recovered and ammunition and a bloodstained jacket'.
One of the Kershaw murder suspects is escorted away by police
The two attackers fled Kershaw's home in the family's white Chevrolet station wagon but were chased down by neighbourhood watch farmers who forced the stolen vehicle off the road in a high speed chase
In the separate incident, Horner was brutally tortured before being stabbed three times and then strangled after being strung up from a pole.
The horrific attack happened at the De Rots Farm in Paul Roux in Free State province 180 miles away from the earlier murder and he was said to have gone through an horrific ordeal.
Police spokesman Brigadier Montansi Makheli said Brendin failed to arrive home after finishing work and his girlfriend Lenize Taljaard raised the alarm.
His body was found by his father Robbie and a colleague Jaco Kleingeld at 6am on Saturday.
His blood soaked body had been slashed multiple times and a knife was found near to the pole he was strung up against.
Two men have been arrested and charged with murder and are due in court tomorrow.
Gilly Scheepers who owns the farm where Horner was murdered told TimesLive: 'He was so excited that day, that he was working a year for us, and on that special day he died. His family is taking his death extremely hard.'
Agricultural strategist Dr Jaco De Villiers has described the latest murder as part of a 'war against food production' in the country and said that his murder was 'slaughter'.
He told the paper: 'How do you murder someone and hang him on a pole for everyone to see? This was a clear message to all farmers. Farm killings have to stop right now'.
Brendin Horner's girlfriend Lenize Taljaard raised the alarm on Friday night after Horner failed to return home
'It is not clear what the motive for this murder is. There cannot be any justification for killing a person who provides food security. Something has to be done to stop it'.
Pressure group Agri SA said that on average a farm where a farmer is violently attacked will be abandoned for up to five years until someone takes it on and restarts production.
They said that means dozens of workers and dependants losing their livelihoods.
Comment: And worse: Taking land from experienced farmers could lead to food crisis says South African farmer
AfriForum spokesman Marius Muller who speaks for the civil rights group protecting minority groups in South Africa said that the farmers need better police protection.
He said: 'This is yet another dark day in the history of South Africa for farmers and those with small holdings and the murder of these two farmers was totally unnecessary.
'These were both premeditated and horrific attacks on innocent farmers who look after and care for their workers and whose jobs may now be put in jeopardy by these murders'.
Each day in South Africa an average of 60 people are murdered but although the number of farmers killed averages 75 a year their deaths are horrific and brutal.
Their killers often use hot irons, power tools and boiling water to torture their victims and rape the female members in the house before finally murdering their victims.
THIS YEAR'S BRUTAL MURDERS OF WHITE PEOPLE IN S. AFRICA
WOMAN AND HER ELDERLY PARENTS ARE KIDNAPPED AND MURDERED
Daniel Brand, 82, his wife Hybrecht, 73, and their daughter Elizabeth, 53, were kidnapped and driven away in their own cars from their rural home near Hartswater in the Northern Province on July 26.
Their bodies were found two days later.
The home was ransacked, with some cash and jewellery stolen.
BRITISH FALKLANDS HERO SHOT DEAD WHILE PROTECTING PARTNER
British Falklands War hero was shot dead while protecting his partner during an armed raid on their farm near Lanseria.
Former Royal Navy sailor Julian Stobbs, 59, was shot in the head and chest after four robbers broke into his home as he slept on July 3.
RESTAURANT OWNER HACKED TO PIECES WITH MACHETE
Eduard Neumeister, 67, who was born in Austria, was hit with 'dozens of blows' from a bush knife at his property in Balgowan, 70 miles outside Durban in June.
The frenzied attack happened as Eduard - known locally as Edi - went to feed his dogs and prepare for breakfast at the Bratwurst Sausage Restaurant and B&B that he ran with partner Margit Riebler, 62.
Comment: See also: Russia welcomes first 50 South African farming families