The speech delivered by the Director-General of Agriculture; Forestry and Fisheries, at the Summit on Farm Killings, Murders and Stock Theft
Programme Director
Organised labour
Civil society
Farmers’ unions
Members of the Inter-governmental Delivery Forum
Ladies and gentlemen
Molweni; goeie more; good morning
On 14 June 2016, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, hosted a round table discussion with stakeholders on farm killings and murders and subsequently to that it was resolved that a summit with stakeholders and civil society organisations be organised to deliberate on farm killings, murders and stock theft in South Africa.
It is against this background that sector stakeholders made this call for all stakeholders to have an opportunity to further engage with all sector stakeholders regarding the safety on farms. They were encouraged to come up with approaches and mechanisms in dealing with incidents of farm killings, murders and stock theft, to further forge partnerships and work together with other government departments and stakeholders to combat brutal attacks against the farming community. Also to conduct awareness on the Rural Safety Strategy, to ensure that stakeholders commit to participate in all stakeholder forums that seek to bring unity, safety and security within the sector and find solutions to stop all forms of violence against farming community.
This on-going scourge of criminal attacks in the farming community is causing serious damages and uncertainty which may affect jobs, economic growth and food security in the sector. This cannot be left unattendant.
Despite these serious challenges on farm killings, murders and stock theft, the South African economy according to Stats SA grew by 1.3% in 2017, exceeding National Treasury’s expectation of 1.0% growth announced during the National Budget Speech in February last year.
The strengthening in economic activity in 2017 was partly driven by the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors recovering from one of the worst droughts in recent history. The sector’s contribution to the GDP was 2.4% in 2017. The sectors have expanded for four consecutive quarters. The growth in the industry is attributed to the increase in the production of field crops, horticulture and animal products.
We remain concerned about lack of stability within the farming communities as a result of farm killing and murdering and stock theft; we may fail our nation if we don’t act now in fighting against any form of violence against farm owners and farm workers.
I am pleased to announce the recent statistics on farm attacks and murders dating back to 2012 as released by the Police Minister Bheki Cele, which show increase in farm attacks and decreased in the number of murders reported year-on-year.
Programme director, stock theft has become a business, and there are clear indications of syndicate involvement. Incidences of stock thefts are rising at an alarming rate that affects livestock farmers’ livelihoods. Livestock farmers are concerned that those who have been arrested in connection with stock theft have not received appropriate punishment. My department encourages livestock farmers to report all incidences of stock theft to SAPS and brand their animals.
Incidents of stock theft in the Eastern Cape Province are on the rise. In May 2018 a 31year old man was arrested for stock theft and a suspected stolen vehicle at Debeza locality in Qumbu. An intelligence driven operation yielded good results when Crime Intelligence and Qumbu Stock Theft members found the suspect in possessions of 17 sheep and a white VW Golf with face plates.
Resent police statistics have revealed that stock incidents from April to December 2016 in the Eastern Cape were 4 986, making the province the second most affected province struggling with this issue after KwaZulu-Natal’s 5 213.
We need to ensure that we participate in all stakeholders’ forum meetings that seek to bring unity, safety and security within the sector.
As the Director-General, who has been assigned to lead the Agricultural sector, I want to assure all stakeholders gathered here today that violence within the farming community is my serious concern because it affects stability within the sector.
We need to stop pointing fingers to one another with regards to the root causes for these acts of violence instead we must come with workable solutions that are within the laws of our country.
All stakeholders attending this summit must commit themselves to work together in building unity in diversity with the farming community and as such all of us must condemn any form of racism and discrimination against any human kind.
We must ensure that the Agricultural sector works very hard to create jobs and contribute towards Growth Domestic Product (GDP) and food security for all in our country. This is our priority as the Sector and we must work together in achieving this goal and notwithstanding the issue of safety and security within the farming communities.
To conclude, I wish to remind you that according to the Stats SA over 12 million people in South Africa live in extreme poverty and go to bed hungry every day.The critical question to ask is: What are we doing about the number of South Africans who go to bed hungry every single day?
If there is no stability within the farming communities as a result of farm killing and murdering and stock theft we may fail our nation if we don’t act now in fighting against any form of violence against brutal killing of farm owners and farm workers.
I wish you have robust and fruitful engagements on this matter since it is a priority for all of us.
Thank you.
Issued by Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 14 June 2018
