DA calls for new farm safety unit
SHOCK, SADNESS: ‘SPECIAL PROTECTION NECESSARY’
Opposition says latest slaying shows communities must get special attention.
South Africa is in urgent need of a rural safety policing strategy, and a specialised rural safety unit in the South African Police Service (Saps) needs to be re-established, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said yesterday.
“The DA is shocked and saddened by yet another brutal farm attack,” spokesperson Annette Steyn said.
“On Friday, Hannes Kidson and his wife, Ester, both 69 years old, were brutally murdered on their farm Oortjies between Jachtsfontein and Westonaria in Gauteng,” she said.
Ester, who recently had a hip replacement and was in a wheelchair, had her throat cut. Hannes was found dead in his workshed with his throat cut.
“The DA extends its condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the Kidsons. You are in our thoughts in this most difficult time,” Steyn said.
It was clear that South Africans living in rural areas – farmers and farm workers alike – were facing extreme danger, the DA said.
According to information provided in a parliamentary reply, the Saps noted 49 farm murders in the past year.
The number of murders, according to agricultural union the TLU, was as high as 72 during this same time.
“South Africa is in urgent need of a rural safety policing strategy that finally takes this reality into consideration. The DA has repeatedly called for the re-establishment of a specialised rural safety unit in the Saps so that this can finally happen – to no avail.”
This need was confirmed by a report by the South African Human Rights Commission released in October 2015. The report found that: law-enforcement agencies, such as the Saps and the National Prosecuting Authority, should step up their involvement in combating crimes against farming communities;
the Saps should submit periodic progress reports on crime in farming communities to the SAHRC;
the Rural Development and Land Reform Department should provide a policy brief on the current status of land tenure in the farming communities and establish the standard of housing delivered to farm workers and dwellers;
this standard needed to be guided by the principles of dignity; and
the Justice and Constitutional Development Department should include farming communities in the Vulnerable Groups programme.– ANA