Over the past few months, a number of local media outlets have reported a violent wave of attacks on white farmers in South Africa that have left several gravely injured and many others dead.

It was in the middle of the night that Mariandra Heunis, her husband and their three children became victims of a so-called farm attack in their home outside Pretoria, South Africa, the Daily Caller reported.

While Mariandra, who was pregnant at the time, and her children survived, the father of family was killed by two armed attackers.

"My husband got up for the last time. And one attacker said, 'Just kill him, brother', and they shot him in the head, execution style, in front of us, and he literally fell at my feet on his face. [...] You hear about these horrific stories and you really hope it never happens to you. And somehow you never expect it to happen to you. Until it does", Mariandra told the media outlet.

The issue of farm attacks has long polarised South Africa for several reasons, including the racial rhetoric attached to the violent episodes. The country's government has denounced the attacks against farmers, even though Mariandra claims that authorities "deny that it's happening".

The number of attacks is said to have risen from between 100 and 200 in 2012 to over 400, per the Daily Caller. Earlier this month, South African police opened an investigation into the murder of wine farm owner Stefan Smit in the town of Stellenbosch.

He was killed when four gunmen entered the house "through an unlocked door and shot him", police said, adding that his wife and a friend were present at the time of the killing and survived.

In May, activist Annette Kennealy, who spoke out against white farm attacks, was also found dead in her home after ostensibly being battered with a hammer.

Just last August, such news sites as the BBC and The Washington Post appeared to quash farm attacks after US President Donald Trump tweeted about it last August.

I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 23 августа 2018 г.

Last year, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that his party, the African National Congress, planned to amend the Constitution to allow for the seizure of farmland owned by white Africans to give the land to black Africans without compensation.

In South Africa, 73 percent of agricultural estates still belong to white South Africans, who make up 10 percent of the population.