Gunmen wound farmer, kill wife

2010-03-15 14:36

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal police have launched a manhunt for four men who shot dead the wife of a farmer in Colenso on Sunday night, police said.

The farmer, 70, was shot twice but he survived and was hospitalised, said Superintendent Jay Naicker.

“The farmer was busy milking cows with his employees when they were approached by four armed men who demanded cash. The wife, 64, was shot dead and he was shot twice but he survived,” he said.

Naicker said the attackers did not take anything and that the members of the Organised Crime Unit were investigating matter.

The DA described the incident as an act of intimidation.

"The senseless murder of an elderly woman and the attack on her husband is yet another tragedy for our country and the DA extends its deepest condolences to the family,” said Tom Stokes, DA member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.

He said the issue of farm killings was aggravated by the singing of struggle songs that advocated the killing of farmers.

ANCYL president Julius Malema caused uproar when he sang a song which some people viewed as advocating the killing of farmers.

"Malema's actions, along with subsequent attempts by the ANC's Gwede Mantashe to justify his conduct, stand in stark contrast to the pain and suffering being experienced by this family and the many others before them,” he said.

He said the argument by the ANC that the song was merely a preservation of struggle literature, rang hollow in the face of a family that has lost a wife, mother and grandmother.

- SAPA