Please find attached the following soundbites:
English by Freddy Sonakile, MPL and Provincial Leader NW
Afrikaans by Carin Visser, DA Provincial Chairperson NW.
Setswana by Barnard Manne, Cllr, Madibeng.
- DA demands urgent action after the brutal farm murder of Hannetjie van Zyl near Ottosdal.
- Rural communities deserve effective, responsive policing.
- DA calls for stronger rural policing and equal protection for all.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West demands urgent intervention following another shocking and brutal farm murder in the Ottosdal/Wolmaransstad area on Monday, 5 October 2026.
The brutal and vicious murder of Mrs Hannetjie van Zyl (55) took place at the entrance security gate to her farmhouse. Criminals attacked her from behind, striking her several times on the neck and head with an iron bar before stealing her handbag and cellphone. She had opened the gate and was getting back into her vehicle to enter her property when she was attacked.
Her husband, Sarel van Zyl, found her brutally battered body. He immediately reported the incident on the agricultural security groups, which remain the only immediate response mechanism available to many farming communities in North West.
Mrs Hannetjie van Zyl was a very kind-hearted person who was well known in the communities of Ottosdal, Migdol and Wolmaransstad. Tragically, she lost her life on the way to hospital in Klerksdorp.
Her death is a stark example of the systemic failures that continue to deny justice, safety and security to rural communities in the North West Province. Her family, friends and the wider community demand decisive action and a thorough investigation by SAPS. The failure to adequately fulfil its mandated safety and security obligations in rural areas is placing the lives and livelihoods of farmers, farm workers and rural communities at increasing risk.
SAPS Ottosdal, approximately 17 kilometres from the farm, was contacted and only arrived at the scene an hour later. According to the family, police indicated that they did not regard the incident as a farm attack, but rather as the theft of a handbag, despite the fact that a 55-year-old woman had been brutally beaten and ultimately lost her life.
The reality of brutal farm attacks and murders must be acknowledged and acted upon. These crimes must be treated as a priority because recognition without action is meaningless.
The DA’s position is clear: rural safety requires a properly resourced and accountable policing system that recognises the unique challenges faced by farming communities. The DA supports stronger provincial policing capacity, improved cooperation between SAPS, provincial government, local government, farmers and rural safety structures, and dedicated resources to ensure that police can respond swiftly and effectively to crimes in rural areas.
Rural communities cannot be expected to rely on WhatsApp groups and private security networks as their first and only line of defence while the police fails to fulfil its constitutional responsibility to protect them.
The DA remains committed to confronting the rural and community safety crisis and to demanding urgent action to address the ongoing brutal and vicious onslaught against farming communities across North West.
Without serious and immediate reform, our rural communities will continue to suffer in silence, threatening the very foundation of our economy and food security.
The DA is taking this matter further and will write to the North West Provincial Commissioner of Police, demanding answers regarding the police response to this attack, the classification of the incident and the investigation into Mrs van Zyl’s murder. The DA will continue to use every available oversight mechanism to ensure that rural communities receive the protection they deserve.
The DA in North West demands equal protection for all rural communities, farm workers and farmers.
We owe them more than sympathy. We owe them safety.
On 4 November, vote DA to get North West working for all.