DA condemns farm attack in Free State

9 December 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns the farm attack on a farm worker and his wife on Saturday by four men near Bothaville in the Free State. After being badly assaulted while patrolling sheep pens, the farm worker was dragged into his house where he and his wife were stripped naked, tied up with fence wire and further assaulted. The motive appears to be stock theft,  since the men loaded sheep into a vehicle and fled.

The DA is concerned by the violence that accompanies farm attacks and the economic cost of crime on the agricultural sector. It is estimated that crime costs Free State farmers between R300 000 and R500 000 per year. This is over and above the costs of one of the severest ongoing drought in our history as well as increasing fuel, electricity and other input costs. This while facing uncertainty regarding expropriation without compensation that threatens livelihoods of farmers and farm workers.

The DA calls on government to seriously consider implementing the DA’s rural safety policy that will contribute towards the safety and security of our country’s greatest assets, namely all our farmers and their employees who feed our nation.

Issued by Roy Jankielsohn, DA Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature, 9 December 2019