# White South African farmer's ears hacked off during heist

By Ben Sellers · Published 2026-10-29 · News & Analysis › World · https://humanevents.com/news/south-african-farmer-ears-hacked-off-cut-to-pieces

> "They also tried to cut off his genitals, but luckily a worker showed up, and these two pig offspring then made their getaway"

A horrific attack on a white [South African](https://humanevents.com/news/south-africa-teeters-on-the-brink-as-anti-immigration-protests-trigger-migrant-departures) farmer during an attempted robbery drew widespread condemnation, while re-upping recent concerns about the black-majority country’s reverse Apartheid and tacit support of genocide.

Donovan Marx, 50, had his ears hacked off and cut to pieces Wednesday while attempting to defend his home against two robbers who had tied up one of his workers in a bar, the Daily Mail [reported](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16248427/White-farmer-ears-hacked-horrific-torture-South-African-farm-robbery-motive-clearly-isnt-just-steal.html).

The ears “were picked up at the scene and sent to hospital, but the problem seems to be that they cut them off into small pieces, so they don't know if the ears can be repaired yet,” said a social-media poster identified as a friend and neighbor of Marx.

The assailants first ambushed Marx, shooting him from behind and stabbing him in the leg as part of an apparent effort to prevent him from fleeing.

“They also tried to cut off his genitals, but luckily a worker showed up, and these two pig offspring then made their getaway taking Donovan's farm pick-up to escape,” said the neighbor.

A post on a Facebook [neighborhood watch group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/2357830981154683/posts/4534590696812023/) urged residents of Potchefstroom and the surrounding area to be on the lookout for Marx’s red Isuzu truck.

Marx’s brother-in-law, Pieter Steyn, said the motive for why he was so viciously attacked remained unclear.

“He has not been able to speak to us, and what happened just goes to show once again how brutal farm attacks are in South Africa, and these brutal attacks are out of control,” Steyn said.

“The motive clearly isn't just to steal something – it goes further than that,” he added.

Minister of Agriculture Willie Aucamp issued a condemnation of the attack.

[View on X](https://twitter.com/DOAgov_ZA/status/2115771730413113464)

“Farmers and farm workers are the backbone of South Africa’s food security efforts and the endless risks to their personal safety directly place the country’s food security at risk,” he said in a statement.

“The onus is on all South Africans to not only condemn all killings and associated divisive acts, but to also take hands to respond to these crimes with the same degree of force,” he added.

Even as President Donald Trump has sought to crack down on the rampant abuse of U.S. refugee policies that allow entry for asylum seekers who do not face legitimate persecution, he has supported the [asylum claims](https://humanevents.com/news/south-african-president-ramaphosa-claims-refugee-afrikaners-are-cowards-for-moving-to-us) of South Africans facing threats of violence.

He confronted South African President [Cyril Ramaphosa](https://humanevents.com/2024/06/14/breaking-south-african-president-cyril-ramaphosa-re-elected-as-anc-partners-with-longtime-rivals-to-form-government-of-national-unity) over the issue during a May 2025 visit at the White House, forcing the world leader to watch a five-minute montage of the atrocities being committed in his country against white Boer farmers.

“I will say, Apartheid, terrible,” Trump said, referencing the colonialist policies that previously oppressed South African blacks between 1948 and 1994.

“That was the biggest story — that was reported all the time,” he added, according to the [New York Post](https://nypost.com/2025/05/21/us-news/trump-confronts-south-african-president-cyril-ramaphosa-with-white-genocide-claims/). “This is sort of the opposite of Apartheid. What’s happening now is never reported.”

[Watch on Rumble](https://rumble.com/embed/v7f9yc2/?pub=2n05b)