Two weeks after Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre Blanche was killed on his farm outside Ventersdorp, another farmer, who lives 30km away, is fighting for his life in hospital after being attacked on his property.

Chicken and mielie farmer Karel Griessel was airlifted to the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg with multiple stab wounds, bruises, fractures, and gashes to the head after a group of armed men assaulted him outside his home.

The motive for the attack is not known, and the attackers did not steal anything from the property.

Werner Vermaak, spokesman for the emergency rescue company ER24, said at about 5am yesterday, Griessel "heard a noise outside and went out to investigate why the dogs were barking".

Inside the farm house, Griessel's two teenage daughters hid under a bed as they heard their father being attacked outside.

The two girls were treated for shock by paramedics after their father's condition was stabilised.

Shortly after the helicopter flew off with her father, Mignon Griessel, 18, went to the North West University in Potchefstroom to participate in the North West provincial hockey trials.

Her older brother, Ryan, 20, was not at home at the time of the attack, but drove back from the same university, where he is a student, to speak to police before he drove to visit his father in hospital.

Griessel's neighbours, dairy farmers Ben and Sonja van der Berg, said farm attacks in the area had escalated to the extent where they felt afraid to walk outside their home.

They said the situation was like being under "house arrest".

"We are not AWB, but this is enough," said Ben van der Berg.

His wife said she felt "angry".

Ben van der Berg said farmers in the Ventersdorp area would meet tomorrow to "get a unit to patrol the area at night" as they did not trust the police and "were not going to wait" for them.

He insisted the attack on Griessel was "linked" to ANC Youth League President Julius Malema's recent singing of the dubula'ibhunu (kill the boer) struggle song.

"Malema is putting things into these kids' heads," he said.

A sign outside Ventersdorp has been daubed with graffiti that reads: "Kill Malema k***** - AWB".

AWB spokesman Andre Visagie said: "We've had repeated incidents on our farms and we see it as a total onslaught."

He said farm attacks were increasing "at an alarming rate" and the AWB would issue a joint statement with Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa this morning after a meeting in Pretoria.

• e.tv last night reported that National Police Commisioner General Bheki Cele's office confirmed the sex claims surrounding Eugene Terre Blanche's death this month. Cele was reported as saying that semen was found on the late right-winger's body, which was found with his pants around his ankles.