FARM ATTACK!

18th September 2009, 4.30pm. A date that would be burned into my memory forever!
My parents and I had just returned to the farm after a day of shopping. I parked my car in front of the garage, and told my parents to wait while I went in to call the maid
to help us with the packages. As I opened the side gate to the back yard, I saw Danie lying on the grass under the washing line, with three black men around him.

I instinctively thought he was having a heart attack, and that the farm labourers were trying
to help him. Fear gripped me, and I called out to him, "Sweetheart, are you OK?" and started to run towards him. As Danie lifted his head and turned towards me, I saw the blood and heard him shout in desperation "Run Dia, run!" I then realised something was very wrong, as I sensed the urgency in his voice. My mind went haywire, and I turnedand started to run, grabbing the gate to close it behind me. The next minute I was looking down the barrel of a pistol, and was grabbed with force at the neck of my blouse. The man kept twisting my blouse until I was walking on my toes in an attempt to breathe.

I was in total shock, and a voice demanded "Where are the pistols, where are your guns?"
While hitting me at the side of my head, he pushed me towards the back door of our house. At that moment I knew, we were in great danger. The man forced me into our house still muttering and demanding me to give him guns. I walked down the passage to our bedroom, and trying to play for time, I told him, I had not been married to Danie for long, so did not know where he kept the keys to the safe. I could sense, that the man was getting frustrated, and at that moment the two other men dragged Danie into the bedroom, with his hands and feet bound with nylon rope.

In our country, having slogans blatantly promoted in Youth Ralleys and over TV - "Kill the farmer, kill the boer!" you suddenly realise that you could become one of the statistics. They sat me down on our bed, with my back to Danie, and began hitting him and shouting "Open the safe! Where are the keys! Open or we will kill her!" I hear the gun cock against my head and the man swears, then again says, "I kill you!" I hear Danie pleading "Please, do not hurt my wife, I will give you what you want"

"Quick, quick, hurry, open up" they keep whispering in urgent tones. I hear the key turn in the safe, and hear the excitement in their voices, guns, ammunition, money ... everything they want.

As I sat on the bed, with the gun against my head, I suddenly realised, now they have what they want, they have no more use for us! I began to pray out loud, and Danie did the same. The men were disturbed by this, and asked us "What are you doing?" Danie said "We are praying". As I prayed, I heard myself say ... "Father, forgive them, they do not realise what they are doing is wrong" Where did that come from? I would much rather have prayed that they get struck by lightening.

The three men, grabbed everything they could get in the safe, stuffing their pockets with as much ammunition as they could. As they began leaving the room, one of the robbers knelt in front of me, and asked me what was in my bedside drawer, and demanded I open it or he would shoot me. I told him it was only my bible and glasses.

In a flash,they were gone ... Danie loosened himself and ran outside but they were nowhere to be seen. Now I was frantic, where were my parents? What if they had taken them hostage? I ran to the window but my parents were no longer in the car. I felt my heart gripped with fear, and ran to the front door. I opened it and there they stood safe and sound. My father had walked my mother to the front door, and when he found it locked said he would go around the back to open up for her. He took some parcels out of the car, walked into the house, and as he set them down, he saw the men dragging Danie down the passage. My father also thought Danie had been hurt
and that labourers were helping him, but then he saw the guns, and Danie shouted to him to get out of the house. My father then ran back to my mother and told her to stand dead still as we were being robbed inside.

I can just imagine the fear they must have felt. Both in their eighties, and their daughter and son in law being held at gunpoint inside.

Do I hate our attackers? Do I want to immigrate to another country and leave South Africa? Have I become a racist after this? My answer is NO! I love my country, and I refuse to live in fear. Many people have told me to go for counselling, but I feel that if I could survive the death of my daughter (killed in a motor accident - by a black driver of a mini bus) then I can survive this too!

When you read of how many woman are raped in farm attacks, how people are cruelly tortured and then killed, I can only thank my Father in Heaven for His divine protection, when we needed it the most!

These men had come to the farm earlier on that day, with the pretense of wanting to purchase a sheep. Danie told them, they were still out in the fields, but that they would be in the "kraal" later on ... so they waited, and watched and noticed that Danie was alone on the farm. When the sheep were finally in, Danie told them to come with him so that they could choose their sheep. As Danie opened the gate to the 'kraal" and walked in, they grabbed him from behind and began
beating him. They kicked him, and hit him with their pistols, and kept saying to one another "Let us kill him now!" They then bound his hands and feet and dragged him to the lawn, and that is when I came through the gate.

No arrests have been made, and we have not heard from the police in a while, not that we think anything will come of this. The mere fact that these men did not hide their faces from us, nor did they wear gloves to avoid any fingerprints makes one wonder? When the police came that night to investigate and found not one finger print ... well what can I say! Do they really care? We have no guns now for protection ... but all we want to do is put it behind us and carry on with our lives.