S.Africa: Minister refuses priority status for farm attacks and murders -TLU SA calls for more attention
TLU SA calls on the Minister of police, Mr Bheki Cele, to clarify if farm attacks and murders receive the attention it so urgently requires. Even if, according to him, it does not enjoy the status of a National Priority Crime anymore. The minister this week in parliament said – in answer to a question from the DA – these crimes are not classified as priority crimes. He said farm attacks fall under other severe crimes like murder, attempted murder, sexual attacks, assault and robbery. According to him, they handle these crimes under the SAPS’s National Rural Safety Strategy implemented from 1 March this year and which will be in place for the next five years.
“It seems like the minister is more concerned about semantics than human lives,” says Mr Henry Geldenhuys, the president of TLU SA. “Research shows that these types of attacks and murders on farms contain other elements than the ‘normal’ cases of murder and robbery.
“The protection of our members, the farmers who produce the food South Africans eat every day, is the most important issue for TLU SA. The minister should know that farmers stand together and that they can paralyze the country when food production is affected.”
The recent farm attacks across the country saw very high levels of violence and racial tension. The EFF’s continued rants about land issues and the minister calling commercial farmers disrespectful and allowing communities to yell and insult them only serve to increase the tension even more.
“The minister lets farmers in the country down,” says Mr Geldenhuys. “Our borders are not protected, stock theft is ever-increasing, and farm attacks get more violent than ever. Our feedback indicates an alarming element of racial hatred during such attacks. The minister says he sees every murder on a South African as serious, but it is time for him to realise that race plays a role when it comes to farm attacks.”
Read about all the farm attacks here
Read the original article in Afrikaans on TLU SA