President Trump has revoked South Africa’s duty-free trade deal as the corrupt ANC government continues to plunge the country into poverty, mayhem and despair. Two horrific farm attacks in the last two weeks involving brutal torture were reported, with one farmer having his ears cut off and one woman being tortured with bolt cutters.
On Wednesday morning, the 28th of October, 50-year-old farmer Donovan Marx was attacked as he returned home to his farm in the North West province of South Africa. Marx was shot, stabbed and had his ears cut off, police said. Five men were arrested for what News24 called a “horror attack”, four of them appearing in court in Ventersdorp this Tuesday.
“Marx’s attackers tied up a farm worker with cable ties before waiting for the farmer to arrive, then dragged him into the house and ransacked the property, stealing three firearms from a safe and fleeing in his bakkie (truck),” News24 wrote.
White South African tortured and had his ears hacked off during a horrific robbery at his farm as the attackers remain at large.
Cattle farmer Donovan Marx, 50, was alone inside his home after his wife Louise had left for work on Wednesday when two men attacked one of his workers in a barn.
The worker was tied up and the robbers then burst into the main farmhouse and shot Mr Marx before stabbing him in the leg.
As he collapsed in a pool of blood, the two men taunted him, held him down and then cut off his ears before slicing them into small bits!
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) October 29, 2026
On Sunday evening, November 1, Les and Natasha Brett were allegedly stripped naked, beaten, and burned with boiling water as three armed attackers tortured them for safe keys at their Broederstroom game farm in the North West province, Citizen reported.
ANOTHER brutal farm attack and torture in South Africa:
An elderly couple were burned with boiling water and beaten as attackers tried to cut off wife’s nipples with bolt cutters.
Only psychopaths consider this “just normal crime”.
https://t.co/22qmWUDvWq— Conscious Caracal 🇿🇦 (@ConCaracal) November 3, 2026
“It was a military-style operation. They were well trained and knew exactly what they wanted. The attack started when they hit me in the face with a bolt cutter,” Les Brett told Kormorant. “They then tied us up and forced us into a built-in safe. They continued to torture us by pouring boiling water over us, stabbing us and demanding money.”
“They kept on shouting: ”Where is the millions, where is the millions!“ I told them that there is no money on the property.”
According to Les, the torture continued and they tore Natashia’s clothes off. They stuck the barrel of a AK47 assault rifle in Les’s mouth. “The gunman pulled the trigger but miraculously the gun jammed.”
According to Les they threatened to cut off Natashia’s nipples. They also threatened to rape Natashia. However, Les emphasized that some media reported that his wife was raped, these are false.
“We managed to free ourselves from the safe and called for help at 22:30,
The attackers eventually fled the property, taking seven firearms, two cellphones and a laptop stolen from the house.
With more than four decades of experience in the African bush, Brett has devoted much of his life to wildlife conservation, anti-poaching training, bushcraft and environmental education.
Security personnel arrived at the property within minutes and immediately summoned emergency medical services.
A search operation was launched in the surrounding area, with drones deployed in an attempt to locate the fleeing attackers.
Despite the search, the suspects could not be located at the time.
Afriforum, a civil rights organization, has issued its 2025 farm attack report, finding a rise in farm attacks from 176 in 2024 to 184 in 2025. The number of farm murders declined from 37 in 2024 to 29 in 2025.
Trending: President Trump Releases Statement After Republicans Suffer Stunning Election Night Setbacks
Leftist media and the South African government continue to deny the existence of farm attacks and farm murders in South Africa. AfriForum has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to speak out against the attack on Donovan Marx and acknowledge the fact of farm attacks in South Africa.
According to AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel, Ramaphosa “has a duty to denounce farm attacks and to take the lead in eradicating this scourge”, AfriForum stated. “His condemnation of farm attacks would carry far more than just symbolic significance. It would provide recognition for victims of farm attacks, focus attention on the need to protect rural communities, and acknowledge the government’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the country’s residents.
MK party politician, member of the South African parliament, and member of the Portfolio Committee on AGRICULTURE, Andile Mngxitama, justifies and celebrates the torture of farmer Donovan Marx and encourages more such attacks.
There will be no consequences for Andile, because many in the South African government appear to share his views.
— Conscious Caracal 🇿🇦 (@ConCaracal) November 1, 2026
“While Ramaphosa fails to condemn farm attacks, MK Party MP Andile Mngxitama makes inflammatory statements on social media, arguing, among other things, that the attack in which Marx’s ears were cut off is “symbolic to denote the refusal of land thieves to listen.’ On this matter, too, the President remains characteristically silent,” Kriel stated.
.@afriforum is today attending the first appearance of the accused in the inhumane farm attack on Donovan Marx, in the magistrates court in Ventersdorp. How many more farmers @CyrilRamaphosa ? https://t.co/LCxOxO3A0x
— Jacques Broodryk (@JacquesBroodryk) November 3, 2026
In reaction to the South African government’s rampant corruption and refusal to stop the targeted killings of ethnic Afrikaners, US President Donald J. Trump has now decided to remove the country from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), introduced by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 2000 to give duty-free access to the American market.
“I am taking this step because I have determined that the Government of South Africa has not established, or is not making continual progress toward establishing, a system to combat corruption and bribery or the elimination of barriers to United States trade and investment, as required by section 104 of AGOA. In addition, certain actions by the Government of South Africa on matters of international security and its relations and cooperation with governments of concern to the United States risk undermining United States national security and foreign policy”, Trump wrote in a letter to Ramaphosa on October 28.
This is the letter US President Donald Trump sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing the termination of South Africa’s AGOA eligibility.
Here’s the crux: “I am taking this step because I have determined that the Government of South Africa has not established, or is not making continual progress toward establishing, a system to combat corruption and bribery or the elimination of barriers to United States trade and investment, as required by section 104 of AGOA. In addition, certain actions by the Government of South Africa on matters of international security and its relations and cooperation with governments of concern to the United States risk undermining United States national security and foreign policy.”
— Conscious Caracal 🇿🇦 (@ConCaracal) November 2, 2026
Trump has also disinvited South Africa from the G20 Summit taking place 4–15 December 2026 at Trump National Doral Miami, pointing out that the failing country no longer ranks among the top 20 economies of the world, currently ranking 39th globally.
South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, is reportedly on the brink of a “total collapse” of its water system as worsening shortages have left residents without running water for weeks. Water tankers & bottled supplies now require armed police escorts.
The decline of my hometown Jo’burg is a warning to London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam and every major city across the West. If you don’t act now, your cities will suffer the same fate. https://t.co/1YawPuhdkO
— The Kiffness (@TheKiffness) October 31, 2026
In an interview with Gabriel Makin from The Common Sense on Monday, 19 October 2026, United States Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III, warned that “South Africa can and will go the way of Haiti with the wrong policies. However, it can go the way of the United States with the right policies. As simple as that.”
It is regrettable that South African policies led to the termination of AGOA for South Africa. This was a predictable and preventable outcome resulting from the rejection by South Africa’s government of real concerns raised by the U.S. Government. I remain hopeful that we can find a path forward to address our larger bilateral concerns, but the South African government must understand the gravity of the situation. We know that if America succeeds, so too will South Africa. This is the partnership I will continue to pursue as expeditiously as possible.
https://t.co/ldYyq3ww4m— U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa (@USAmbRSA) November 2, 2026
After the AGOA announcement, Bozell called it “regrettable that South African policies led to the termination of AGOA” and “a predictable and preventable outcome resulting from the rejection by South Africa’s government of real concerns raised by the U.S. Government.”
Ahead of local elections today, Wednesay November 4, support for the ruling ANC party has plummeted “to an all-time low as citizens are tired of corruption, incompetence, and bad policies”, Newsday writes. 90% of South Africans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to the report.
South Africa: Farm torture: “The worst was when they started cutting my wife”
Les Brett (67) says the worst part was not what happened to him: “It was when they started cutting my wife’s nipples, just to cause pain. She’s a very, very strong woman. A good woman.”
He and his wife, Natasha (68), have lived for 13 years on a farm at Broederstroom, near Hartbeespoort Dam, where he is involved in wildlife conservation. That is why he has guns, including an AK-47 assault rifle.
“They put the AK-47’s barrel in my mouth and pulled the trigger, but it didn’t fire,” he says.
“It was God’s grace. There’s nothing wrong with my gun. But they didn’t know much about guns, to be honest.”
The attackers left with seven of Les’s guns and the couple’s cellphones.
Three attackers broke into the house and overpowered the couple. They tied their feet, blindfolded them and tied their arms behind their backs.
“But they kept us apart, so most of the time we could only hear what was happening to the other one,” says Natasha.
The motive for the attack? “There were only two reasons. They wanted to get into the safe, and they wanted cash,” says Les.
He says it was as if they knew he owned firearms. “That’s when they started assaulting my wife in front of me. But once they had the keys, they got it into their heads that we keep cash.”
The couple can’t remember exactly how long the torture lasted, but estimate it was between two and three hours. “It’s difficult, because you’re in so much pain that time passes more slowly,” says Natasha.
Photo caption: Les and Natasha Brett before the attack. (Supplied)
Les and Natasha are already back home, but their injuries are still serious.
“They slapped me and cut the clothes off my body. Exactly like in the movies, as if there’s a mafia above them giving them instructions,” she says.
She also believes that at times it felt as if they were simply taking out their frustrations in anger. “You could see the adrenaline and the rage in their eyes. They also acted as if they weren’t coordinated among themselves.”
In the middle of the attack, one of them told her: “We’re not here to steal cables.”
The couple’s bank cards were left untouched. “I even offered to drive to an ATM, but they didn’t want to,” she says.
Natasha also says she was nearly raped twice. “But they’re like children in a toy shop. When the safe opened, he forgot about me.”
Natasha suspects that if they had not handed over the keys to the safe, the attackers would have killed Les. “It was like a negotiation.”
Photo caption: One of Les’s wounds. (Supplied)
Her lips are now badly swollen, there are bruises behind her ears, and the attackers almost dislocated her shoulder.
“They tied my hands so tightly that the blood circulation was cut off, and then there were the rags they kept pushing into your mouth…” This later tore her frenulum (the tissue that attaches the tongue to the floor of the mouth).
Both of them were tortured with boiling water, but it is not yet clear how serious the burns are.
Les’s injuries are worse than his wife’s. “They hit him over the head with bolt cutters. His face was very swollen, the white of his eye was red and full of blood, and he can’t hear out of his left ear. His eardrum is burst,” she says.
Natasha remembers that it later went quiet where she was sitting alone. “I think they realised we had nothing. When I thought it was quiet enough, I struggled for 15 minutes to untie my feet,” she says.
There was a knife on the table, which they used to cut each other loose.
“The strangest thing is that they let our dogs out, and even threw their pellets in for them to eat,” she says. They have boerboel and Rhodesian ridgeback crosses, as well as a terrier, “and they didn’t even bark.”
Les thanked all the services that helped them after the attack. “We can’t complain at all,” he says.
Leilani Basson of Bush Babes Conservation Adventures has worked with Les for 14 years. “That something like this should happen to a man like him is tragic. That it should happen to someone so devoted to conservation.”
She describes him as “a man who is always ready, a real army man who stays out in the veld with the wild animals because he loves them.”
“He can tell you about anything, from history to facts about the soil and the grass. He’s a walking encyclopaedia of the veld!”
Les also runs the Dung Beetle Bush School, which aims to teach children and women more about the Bushveld. It is also part of an anti-poaching unit that Les runs together with several other organisations.
The police are investigating a case of house robbery. No one has been arrested yet, says police spokesperson Sergeant Kelebogile Morake.
Lieutenant General Arthur Peter Adams, the provincial police commissioner in North West, condemned the attack.
“It is concerning that criminals continue to target vulnerable members of our communities in the safety of their own homes. We condemn such acts of violence and intimidation in the strongest terms.”
Adams said the police would “intensify efforts” to make sure the attackers are arrested.
Anyone with information that can help the police investigation can contact the investigating officer, Warrant Officer Gregory Kwadi, on 082 373 9636.
Source: Desiré Nortjé, Netwerk24
— Afrikaner (@AltAfrikaner) November 3, 2026
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