Free State farm attack stats prove a high 12% rate of murder
22 March 2019
Murder remains on average very high during farm attacks in the Free State province. In reply to a question from the DA on farm attacks in the Free State Legislature, the MEC for Police, Roads and Transport indicated that 54 acts of violence took place against people on farms and smallholdings in 2017 and 32 to date since 2018. During these 86 attacks 14 murders took place which is a very high 12%. While many people may regard the numbers of farm attacks as not being excessive in relation to the general crime rates in the country, the murder rate during such attacks is far above average. Of the 230 694 crimes reported in the Free State during 2017 and 2018, 2004 resulted in murder, which is an average of 0,9% average. The type of violence that accompanies farm murders is also more excessive.
The MEC indicated that the SAPS define a farm attack as follows: “Acts of violence against persons on farms and smallholdings refer to acts aimed at persons residing on, working on or visiting farms and smallholdings, whether with the intent to murder, rape, rob or inflict bodily harm. In addition, all acts of violence against infrastructure and property in the rural community aimed at disrupting legal farming activities as a commercial concern, whether the motive/s are related to ideology, land disputes, land issues, revenge, grievances, racist concerns or intimidation, are included” “Acts of violence against persons on farms and smallholdings refer to acts aimed at persons residing on, working on or visiting farms and smallholdings, whether with the intent to murder, rape, rob or inflict bodily harm. In addition, all acts of violence against infrastructure and property in the rural community aimed at disrupting legal farming activities as a commercial concern, whether the motive/s are related to ideology, land disputes, land issues, revenge, grievances, racist concerns or intimidation, are included.”
While crime in our country remains unacceptably high, defining farm attacks is an important instrument to deal with these incidents as separate from other crimes. Trained personnel and vehicles remain a constraint for the SAPS to implement effective crime prevention strategies in rural areas, such as visible policing through regular patrols.
The statistics indicate that the SAPS are not able to prevent these violent attacks on farms. The phasing out of the commandos left rural communities vulnerable, which is why the DA believes in introducing specialised rural safety units in the SAPS to protect people in rural areas, especially people residing on farms and smallholdings.