Five arrested after South African farmer shot and tortured

South African police have arrested five people in connection with a brutal attack on a cattle farmer, who was assaulted and tortured in what has been described as a "senseless and barbaric" act.

Donovan Marx, 50, was attacked during a house robbery on his farm in Ventersdorp, a small town in South Africa's North West province, last Wednesday.

Marx was ambushed as he returned home, shot and stabbed and had his ears cut off in the horrific ordeal, police said.

All five of his alleged attackers were arrested over the weekend, a move welcomed by Marx's wife and family.

They added that the "legal process must [now] take its course".