GD 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 (@gailauss)

#SouthAfrica @FarmAttacks Farm attack at Donkerhoek: “I could feel my teeth breaking” Aug 22, 2026 | “Just survive.” That’s what Hannes Brits (43) kept telling himself as attackers assaulted, tied up and repeatedly threatened him for more than three hours in a farmhouse in the Donkerhoek area. Two weeks later, the signs of the attack were still visible on his body. Three men were arrested shortly after the attack by members of Echo-1 Tactical Solutions. They are Amos Respect Mashaba (52), Rofino Jorge Novela (35), a Mozambican, and Siyabulela Khulu (35). They are charged with aggravated robbery and kidnapping because Brits was tied up and deprived of his freedom of movement. A fourth person, who fled in Brits' bakkie, is still being sought. The case was postponed for a possible bail application. Brits, a mechanical engineer who rents a house on the farm, went to bed at around 11:00 p.m. on the Friday night of the long weekend. The house was locked, as was the security gate in the hallway. He didn't hear anything suspicious until he woke up to a hard blow to the face. Brits suspects he was hit with the blunt end of an axe. His mouth was seriously injured and he could feel his teeth breaking. The attackers then tied his hands and feet with a strong rope behind his back. Brits says he could feel the blood supply to his hands being cut off. The men then searched the house, took belongings from his closet and packed some of the items into his backpack. Household items, including his refrigerator and television, were also taken out. In between, the attackers returned to Brits, assaulted him further and threatened to burn him with an iron. "Just survive. Just survive," Brits kept telling himself. At one point everything went quiet and Brits thought the attackers had left. He tried to free himself and says it felt like he was tearing his shoulder out of its socket. But the silence was always short-lived. "Every time the attackers storm into my room, attack me and threaten me with the iron. And just when I think they've gone away, they come back," Brits said. According to him, the attackers repeatedly tried to turn on the wrong light switches without realizing that the house's power was off. At one point, Brits heard his own bakkie's alarm go off. Two of the attackers rushed down the hallway, presumably thinking they had triggered something themselves. Shortly afterwards they returned to Brits and wanted to beat him again. With his mouth badly injured and his lower lip hanging limp, Brits could barely speak. He tried to tell them that the noise was coming from his bakkie, but couldn't pronounce the letter "b" properly. Brits then pressed his mouth against the pillow to try to get the words “bakkie keys.” Meanwhile, according to Brits, one of the attackers tried to hit him again. The alarm was then turned off. Brits later heard his bakkie and another vehicle drive away. Only then did he start shouting for help again. Echo-1 had meanwhile received information about a planned attack for that Friday evening. According to Alto Hoffman, the farm area is large and densely forested, and the only practical option was to drive around the area and look for anything suspicious. Shortly after 03:00 on Saturday morning, they spotted a bakkie suspected to be loaded with stolen goods. Three occupants were stopped and taken to Cullinan police station. Among the items found was a cellphone. The emergency contact number on the device was called and it was Brits' brother. He was able to provide directions and beacons, after which the security members began searching the farm. Around 6:00 a.m., they located the farmhouse and heard someone screaming from inside. The burglar alarm in front of a living room window was damaged and the security gate in the hallway was broken open. "We found Hannes on the bed," Hoffman said. Brits was still tied up and blood was dripping down to the soles of his feet. Hoffman contacted the control room and called for police and medical assistance. Hoffman then had to carefully work to free the rope, which had cut deep into Brits' body. The police and medical assistance were called. A neighborhood watch also arrived and administered first aid, after which Brits' brother took him to a hospital. The effects of the attack were still visible on Brits' body two weeks later. The bloody swelling around his eye had diminished to blue circles. The marks where the rope had been tightened around his wrists and ankles were still visible. A wound near his collarbone, where he was stabbed with something, was stitched up. Brits also suffered a wound on his arm that he suspects was caused by something like a screwdriver. He had to undergo plastic surgery after his face was cracked and broken in five places. He said a piece of nasal bone was stuck in his eye socket and two of his fingers remain crooked due to nerve damage. "The wounds are healing. The first few days were the worst," Brits said. He says he is grateful to have survived the attack and is especially grateful to Echo-1 and his brother. He is also grateful that the attackers mistakenly thought the power was out. @mysticphoeniix @Fan1776 @FEDUPCITIZEN7 @indydee