Potchefstroom farmer wounded in a 2020 ambush says firearm regulations overlook the real threat of illegal guns.
A Potchefstroom farmer who was shot with a stolen police firearm in 2020 and lived to tell the tale says the new firearm regulations give dangerous attackers an easy way to get their hands on firearms.
Hennie Niemand said he could have died and still can’t believe he survived the attack on 21 August, 2020 on the family farm.
“We were working late with the cattle, and my workers took the cattle to the barns. When they got there at about 6pm, they called me and said the bakkie had a flat tyre. I drove there to pick up the workers, and when I got there, it was actually a trap,” he said.
Farmer shot with stolen police gun
“Luckily, there was only one attacker because my two-yearold daughter and 10-year-old nephew were with me and in the back of the bakkie when the attacker shot at us.
“He came running up with the gun and started shooting at us. I jumped out of the bakkie and, luckily, I had my gun with me, and I was able to shoot back. He was shot dead, and I almost was too.”
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The attacker held his workers hostage and demanded that they phone Niemand to lure him.
“I was also shot in the stomach, pancreas, spleen, kidney and colon. He almost shot me dead. He didn’t hit me in the lungs, so I could still breathe,” he added.
Niemand spent 14 days in hospital recovering, of which 10 days were in the intensive care unit and four days in a general ward, and was later discharged to rehabilitate.
Full recovery
“God was good to me, and I fully recovered,” he said.
Niemand said during the attack, he didn’t have a moment to be scared; all he thought about was protecting the children on the back of the bakkie.
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“The thought of dying never passed my mind for a moment,” he added.
Niemand managed to phone his father, who lived with him on the farm, and alerted the neighbours and all the authorities.
Niemand said the irony of the attack was that he was shot with a stolen police firearm.
Illegal firearm owners a problem
“We found that out during the investigation afterwards that I was shot with a stolen police firearm. That’s why my story is relevant to the regulations they want to pass now,” he said.
“The dangerous men are the ones who want to give an easy way to get their hands on firearms. That’s why it’s bad that they want to regulate firearms. That’s where the danger comes in, because the legal firearm owners are not the problem, the illegal firearm owners are the problem.”
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Niemand said there was another attempt to attack their farm after that, but the perpetrators were stopped in their tracks.
“My nephew had another attack a year later, so he’s a little scared after that,” he said.
“My little girl is okay. We sent her for play therapy after that, but she was still very young.”
Culpable homicide
After recovering, Niemand was charged with murder, which was later filed as a culpable homicide due to the nature of the attack.
“There were witnesses who saw him shoot and attack me first, which helped,” he said.
‘Stolen police firearms fuelling crime’
South African Gun Association (Saga) chair Damian Enslin said Saga has been talking for many years about the level of firearms that are stolen and missing from police sources as a direct result of inherent corruption within the police system.
“Many times civilians have been blamed for crimes when, in actual fact, the vast majority of crime appears to be as a result of stolen or missing Saps or official firearms,” he said.
“We call on the national commissioner of the police to take this very seriously and to immediately establish systems within the police to more securely secure the firearms and when firearms are stolen or go missing, they are fully investigated, and those responsible are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Enslin said until this happens, the surge of illegal firearms will continue.
