No farm murder stats for 10 years

AFRIFORUM UP IN ARMS: ‘YET THEY ARE INCREASING’

Non-profit body launches civil motion of no confidence in police minister.

Civil rights group AfriForum criticised Police Minister Fikile Mbalula for failing to release specific statistics for farm attacks and murders when he tabled the 2016-17 crime statistics in parliament on Tuesday.

“We heard the horrible numbers that show South Africa’s murder rate has increased yet again,” said AfriForum deputy CEO Ernst Roets in Pretoria.

“In the last year, there were 19 016 murders in SA, which means about two murders every hour – for an entire year. That really indicates SA is in fact a very violent country, suffering from extreme levels of crime, which is very concerning to us.

“What is even more concerning ... is the fact that once again no statistics regarding farm attacks were released. There was a question to that effect posed to the minister, to which he responded by refraining from providing any numbers.

“His answer almost created an impression that he was trying to depict farmers as racists. He said we must remember there was a case in which a farmer shot someone, thinking it was a baboon, and so forth.”

Roets took issue with Mbalula’s response. “Of course, horrible incidents happen, but we believe it was very inappropriate for the minister to respond like that when people ask why there are no statistics for farm killings.”

He added that the last time statistics on farm attacks and murders were made public was in 2007. AfriForum said there had clearly been an increase in these crimes on farms.

“Our data in terms of farm attacks is insufficient because we know that a farm attack where no one is killed is not newsworthy any more,” said Roets.

“It happens almost every day in South Africa, but farm murders in which people are killed are still reported, unfortunately in some media publications more than others.”

Yesterday, AfriForum launched a “civil motion of no confidence in Fikile Mbalula”, appealing for citizens to join the campaign. – ANA