Farmer talks about dog attack
Mr Oosthuysen says his response time would've been quicker had the road not been so bad
After a farm worker was viciously attacked by two farm dogs in the Ekucasheni area of Weenen on Tuesday, the farmer has spoken out about the incident.
In an exclusive interview with the Ladysmith Gazette, farmer Henny Oosthuysen had the following to say: “Because of the situation between farmers and workers being so flammable, we have to set matters right.”
On Tuesday last week, at about 3.30pm, 30-year-old Funekile Sithole was working as a domestic for the day. She was working in the yard and the dogs were locked in the garage.
According to 87-year-old Illigje Oosthuysen (Henny’s mother), she was taking a glass of water to Funekile when she yelled, “The brown dogs are coming!” At that point, the dogs had already come out of the garage and were storming towards Funekile.
The dogs only respond to commands given in German and a bit of Afrikaans.
As the Boerboels are very big dogs, they easily pushed Funekile to the ground while biting at her. As Mrs Oosthuysen is old and frail, she was unable to get the dogs off the domestic worker and ended up falling and hurting herself.
Two tractor workers, Hadebe and Ntutusi, heard the commotion and rushed to the farmhouse to see what was going on. Upon their arrival, they saw the dogs tearing into Funekile’s flesh. They assisted in getting the dogs off Funekile.
Mr Oosthuysen says he received a message saying the dogs were out. He was working on farmland more or less 7km away. He and a worker rushed back with blankets on the back of the bakkie. Mr Oosthuysen says his response time would’ve been quicker had the road not been so bad.
Mr Oosthuysen adds that if he had been closer, or at the farmhouse itself, the attack would probably not have happened. Mom Mvelase, the farm worker who was with Mr Oosthuysen, did her best to treat Funekile before rushing her to the Weenen Clinic.
Mr Oosthuysen has taken extra precautions to prevent this from happening again. He has put new locks on the garage doors.
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