Farmers seek tough action

Bay group urges harsher penalties for attacks ahead of Black Monday drive

FED up with constant farm attacks and a perceived lack of action from the authorities, a group of farmers from the Nelson Mandela Bay area wants tougher penalties to be implemented. This was the message from the farmers and their families at a gathering at the Kabega Park police station at the weekend.

Event organiser Michael Peyper said farmers no longer felt safe as there was no structure in place to assist in preventing attacks.

“If we keep looking over our shoulders, our farms are going to suffer, and if we keep farming, we could be murdered – it’s a lose-lose situation,” he said.

Peyper, who farms in the Rocklands area, said the gathering was aimed at finding alternative ways to deal with the attacks.

“It’s not that we want to attack back, it is more to look for answers as to why these guys are targeting farmers specifically,” he said.

Asked if police were doing enough, Peyper said police were doing whatever they could.

However, he called for more stringent laws to be implemented by the government to deal with farm attacks.

“We have electric fences, security cameras, dogs, firearms.

“It’s not that we are out to kill people, but we are not [prepared to lose] our lives anymore,” he said.

Graham McKay, another Rocklands farmer, called for the death penalty to be reinstated.

McKay said he had a board on his farm which stated that “trespassers will be shot”.

“I have never lost a family member from a farm attack, because I have one clear motto – if I catch you on my property, you are dead, you don’t walk away,” McKay said.

“The people who commit these crimes are being sentenced too lightly.

“Look at those two white guys who got [more than] 10 years in prison for shoving a black man into a coffin – yet nothing happens when a farmer is killed.”

Quinton Nicholson said there was no protection for farmers, so they needed to protect themselves.

“It makes me so angry. If nothing is done to curb this, we will start taking the law into our own hands,” he said.

According to statistics released by AfriForum last week, 70 murders and 357 attacks were reported on farms last year – a sharp rise from the 48 murders reported in 2011.

On its Facebook page, the organisation pledged support for the Black Monday campaign against farm murders.

In a link to the campaign, a convoy of black-clad supporters is expected to drive through Port Elizabeth today to raise awareness about farm attacks.

An e-mail from convoy convener Willie Bosch said the group would depart from the Seaview Road at 1pm.

“Each vehicle must have a black flag [on the] outside,” Bosch said.

“Members dress in black and join our convoy . . . to mourn the many farmers who have been murdered. Farmers are of all races in South Africa. This is not a political drive.”