Grobler Annerie

Age 55. Annerie Grobler was deeply dedicated to farming and was described by her family, including her brother and her son Drikus Grobler, as an "iron woman" (ystervrou). Her life revolved entirely around nature and livestock. Her brother recalled that she did everything herself—from physically carrying heavy feed bags to feeding the horses. She lived a relatively lonely life on the farm but stayed because of her profound love for the animals and the land. On the morning of October 30, 2016, at around 07:00 AM, Annerie left in her bakkie (pickup truck) to go collect her farm workers from the nearby township of Tshing. As she drove up to the cattle kraal gate, she noticed it was closed. The gate was usually kept open, which made her suspicious. While in her bakkie, she was speaking to her mother over the phone and mentioned her concern about the closed gate. She hung up the phone to get out and open it. The moment she stepped out, she was ambushed by an attacker hiding in the nearby bushes. Her body was discovered at around 08:30 AM by the gate of the cattle kraal. The attack was exceptionally violent. The assailant beat her to death using large rocks and a garden fork (hooivurk). Her family expressed immense grief over the sheer cruelty of the murder, stating that she was completely broken physically and that there was no logical reason for someone to be that brutal. The killer was identified as Gert Juba Moroe (32 at the time), a disgruntled former employee on the farm. He was swiftly arrested and appeared in the Ventersdorp Magistrate’s Court within days of the murder.On 17 August 2018, justice was served when the North West High Court, sitting in Klerksdorp, sentenced Moroe to life imprisonment for the murder, plus an additional 15 years for related criminal charges. The South African Police Service (SAPS) and provincial management highly commended the Ventersdorp detectives and the community for their quick cooperation in securing the heavy sentence.