Police at Delmas has since launched an investigation after an 80-year-old farmer was brutally murdered in Dwarsfontein farm, Delmas. The details are still sketchy and it has not yet been determined as to whether the incident occurred at night or in the early hours today (16 November 2022) however police are probing a farm murder case with an additional charge of house robbery.

It was reported that when employees could not gain entry into the farmhouse, they contacted the farmer’s daughter who immediately contacted the police who swiftly attended to the complaint, and after consultation with family members, the door was forced open. They were met with the unharmed but shocked 79-year-old victim. The search continued and the lifeless body of the 80-year-old Hennie Van Der Walt was found in the back bedroom with multiple wounds on the stomach. Preliminary investigation suggests that he sustained a gunshot wound and suspected multiple stab wounds.

The motive for the killing is unknown at this stage and no one has been arrested so far.

The house appears to have been ransacked, CCTV PVR was damaged and the safe opened. Police also discovered spent cartridge, live ammunition in the house as well as in the vegetable garden.

Bloodstained footprints were also noticed and a safe from the house was allegedly stolen but later found opened in the nearby bushes a few meters from the house. Currently, police cannot rule out the possibility that firearm(s) and other items could have been stolen during the tragic incident.

Police urge anyone with information that may assist them in apprehending the suspect(s) to call the Crime Stop number at 08600 10111 or send information via MYSAPSAPP. All received information will be treated as confidential and callers may opt to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has condemned the attack on senior citizens who were striving to feed the nation with their farm products. The General added that attacking a farmer is more like encouraging hunger to community members.