Police Minister must tour NC rural crime hotspots
14 October 2020
Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English & Afrikaans from Ofentse Mokae, MPL.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is calling on the National Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to also visit the family of Danie, Breggie and Elzabie Brand, who died after a vicious attack on their Hartswater plot in July.
While we are pleased that the minister did eventually visit the family of the murdered Brendin Horner in Senekal earlier this week, it is sad that it has taken so many lives and so much community uproar to get Cele to acknowledge and listen to the plight of farmers.
If Cele is indeed serious about combatting crime in rural areas, as he committed to do this week, then he needs to stop viewing crimes in terms of numbers, and start addressing crime driven by the faces of the those who have lost their lives, the heartache of those who mourn them and the anger of those whose lives and livelihoods are being threatened by the wave of farm murders and rural crime that has engulfed this nation.
Actions speak louder than words. If government is to turn the tide on farm attacks and rural crime, it is therefore going to have to show, and not merely voice, its condemnation of crime.
In this regard, the DA calls on Cele to kick off his rural crime tour in Hartswater, in the Northern Cape, where not one, but three members of the Brand family were brutally killed in a single attack. To date, only the MECs of Safety, Nomandla Bloem and Agriculture, Mase Manopole have seen fit to visit this family. Yet there has been no support offered by Premier Zamani Saul, President Cyril Ramaphosa or Cele with no plan or timeframe on how to address the issue in the short term until the Rural Safety Strategy is implemented.
Cele should also visit the family of torturously murdered Pofadder hotelier, Leon Brits, who was allegedly found dead with multiple stab wounds in his swimming pool. He can also visit 65-year old farmer, Giep Niemann, who was attacked and robbed in broad daylight, in the Kuruman central business district. There are many other victims of crime that he can and should visit. Cele needs to speak to these people to get an understanding of what is really happening in the largely rural, and once relatively safe and quiet province of the Northern Cape.
Cele has an opportunity to set things right, to help save this country from unnecessary bloodshed and to grow a prosperous and peace-loving nation. His priorities over the next couple of weeks, will show us in which direction this country is moving.
In the meantime, the DA will continue to monitor court cases relating to specifically farm attacks and other crimes in rural areas in the Northern Cape, to support families and victims of crime, as well as to continue putting pressure on government to ensure that ultimately there is a safer environment, as well as justice for all those affected by crime.
Issued by Ofentse Mokae, DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson Transport, Safety & Liaison, 14 October 2020
