Mr Cemal Asti, 56, suffered double-head injuries, a broken arm, two broken ribs and a hole in his lung after two black men attacked him on his Wallmansthal smallholdings with a bolt-cutter. Reported on 16 Jan 2014. He and wife Jenine, 43, told journalists from his Pretoria Academic Hospital bed that he woke up at around 03h30am by his barking dogs, said wife Jenine, 43. Cemal went out to investigate and ran into an unknown black stranger - who made a sharp hissing sound which Cemal believed was a warning to his comrade. 'The next moment I felt a heavy blow to the back of my head,' he said. Jenine ran to the front door to find out what was going on and said she 'saw a black man with a boltcutter held above his head, ready to crash it down on my husband's skull. It was terrible. I couldn't do anything else except lock the front door because I had to protect our two girls, aged seven and 19. Cemal meanwhile was using anything he could find on the stoep to defend himself with, including plastic chairs - and the attackers retreated while Cemal managed to flee into his workshop in the back of the garden. He was looking for equipment to defend himself with. Only when he was in the room he realized he was covered in blood, and in no fit state to fight against them. However it was fortunate that Cemal put up such a fierce defence earlier because the men had fled. Jenine called the community-policing forum while Cemal went back to their home and his wife was trying to calm down the children. Cemal was admitted to hospital shortly thereafter. By late afternoon the couple said they hadn't had time to report the attack to the SAPS, and the police claims that they knew nothing about any incident in this entire area on Tuesday-morning.
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However civil-rights forum Afriforum reported three attacks in that region since Monday on smallholdings, including the one against the Asti couple. In fact Afriforum said in its statement by Ernst Roets today that there had been five farm attacks within the past four days. He said AfriForum will announce an action plan next week, intensifying its campaign for prioritising farm murders. He said 'the organisation is worried that the escalation in farm murders and attacks in 2013 will continue and worsen in 2014. During the past four days at least five farm attacks had taken place.
-- In the latest incident, a farmer and his wife were attacked by two armed men on their farm outside Barkly-East last night. The farmer, Sarel Pretorius was shot dead. His wife was locked in the bathroom. The police reacted quickly and took fingerprints at the scene. AfriForum's neighbourhood and farm watches were also mobilised to find the attackers, who had fled in the direction of Elliot. The attackers stole a white Toyota Hilux bakkie and firearms.
-- The community of Barkly East is still traumatised by the brutal murder of David (87) and Rallie de Villiers (86) in October of 2013.
The other four farm attacks during the past four days are as follows:
11 January - Bloemspruit. Dr Jacob Swart and his wife Elise were attacked on their farm with knives and steel pipes by two men. The attackers fled with a .22 revolver, a rifle, two cell phones and an undisclosed amount of cash.
12 January - Wallmansthal area. An R5 attack rifle, allegedly issued only to the SAPS, was used in an attack on two victims in their sixties. The farmer was wounded and electrical appliances were stolen.
14 January - Waterval area near Pretoria. The farmer was lured outside and attacked with a machete.
14 January - Wallmansthal area. A farmer was held hostage and attacked.
The campaign by Afriforum was aimed at getting the SAPS to declare farm murders a priority crime and to have specialist reaction units established to ensure rural safety. "There is no fence left to sit on in this crisis. Either the police are part of the solution or they are part of the problem." Ian Cameron, Head of Community Safety at AfriForum, added that pressure on Government alone will not solve the crisis. Communities have the right and the ability to safeguard themselves. "The don't-care attitude of Government towards farm murders has created a situation where the public must take responsibility for their own safety. We appeal to people to become involved with community safety networks. In communities where these networks were established we can see a significant drop in crime." The campaign by AfriForum will include various awareness and protest actions, as well as a strategy to establish community safety networks across the country.
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