DA welcomes KZN SAPS support for farm murders to be declared a hate crime
11 August 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is pleased to have the support of the provincial South Africa Police Service (SAPS) in its campaign to declare farm murders a hate crime and a priority in the province.
The backing from SAPS was given during an Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) portfolio committee meeting, initiated by the DA, held earlier today.
The DA in KZN has been calling for a joint portfolio committee meeting with the province’s Departments of Agriculture and Community Safety for more than six months, in order to discuss the growing concerns around rural and farm safety. After a long postponement the meeting finally took place earlier today with the relevant MECs and representatives from SAPS, the Association for Rural Advancement Land Rights Advocacy (AFRA) and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
The DA believes that SAPS’ support on this issue will help to turn the tide against farm and rural crimes. We welcome SAPS' admission that there is a major problem and that the DA's campaign to bring focus on these terrible attacks is starting to yield results.