@justadvocacy1: The brutal 2010 murder of the Potgieter family is circulating widely again after a post by Visegrád 24 on 3 November 2026 shared the details of Attie, Wilna and two-year-old Wilmien’s deaths. The post has drawn thousands of reactions, shares and comments on Facebook and X, many linking it to a recent farm attack in the North West province. That latest case involves 50-year-old farmer Donovan Marx of Syferfontein near Ventersdorp. On 28 October 2026 he was shot, stabbed and had his ears cut off during a robbery. Five suspects have been arrested and four appeared in court on charges including attempted murder and robbery. The timing has revived discussion of older farm attacks that were exceptionally violent. On 1 December 2010, on the Potgieter farm Tweefontein near Lindley in the Free State, Attie Potgieter (40), his wife Wilna (36) and their daughter Wilmien (2) were killed. Pathologist Dr Robert Book testified that Attie suffered 151 stab and laceration wounds consistent with a garden fork, panga and knives. Book stated that Attie had been tortured to death; only 14 of the wounds were potentially fatal, and it took him many minutes to die. His body was found outside the house. Wilna sustained deep lacerations to the head and was shot in the neck at close range. Wilmien had a cut to the head made with a sharp instrument before she was shot in the back of the head at close range. Some accounts described her body being found with a pink ribbon still in her hair. A note left at the farm gate reportedly read, in Sotho: “We have killed them. We are coming back.” The attackers took a relatively small amount of money. Six men were arrested, some of them farm workers. They were convicted in the Bloemfontein High Court. The judge described the murders as gruesome, barbaric and detestable. Several received life sentences. An NPA spokesperson said that, humanly speaking, the death penalty would have been more appropriate, though it is not available under the Constitution. The case is frequently raised when political leaders state there are “no killings of white farmers” and when media coverage treats documented farm attacks as a conspiracy theory. Attie, Wilna and Wilmien were not abstractions. They were a young family killed on their farm on what should have been an ordinary day. Wilmien never reached her third birthday. Their story, established in open court, continues to surface whenever new attacks of extreme brutality occur. They deserved safety. Their deaths still demand honest recognition. #JustAdvocacy #JusticeForWilmien #FarmMurders #FreeState #NoMoreViolence

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Wednesday 04 November 2026 06:03:29 GMT