JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma urged restraint on Sunday after the murder of far-right party leader Eugene Terreblanche, who was hacked to death by his farm workers in a dispute over unpaid wages.

The president appealed for calm following this terrible incident and asked South Africans not to allow provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred, the South African Press Association (SAPA) quoted a statement from the presidential office as saying.

Terreblanche, 69, was leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), which wanted to create self-governance for the "Boers": Afrikaans for white farmers.

Terreblanche was attacked by a 21-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy, who worked for him on his farm outside the town of Ventersdrop, about 110 km northwest of Johannesburg, police spokeswoman Adele Myburgh said.

"Terreblanche was found dead on the bed with facial and head injuries," the SAPA quoted Myburgh as saying. He was reportedly beaten by machetes and pipes.

The two suspected murderers, who were in custody, told the police that the argument happened because they were not paid for the work they did on the farm.

Terreblanche formed the AWB in 1973 with six other Afrikaans-speaking whites descended from Dutch immigrants amid growing opposition to white minority government and its apartheid policies.