Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite in English by Bobby Stevenson, MPL.
The third farm attack in the last three weeks in the Sarah Baartman District occurred in the Nanaga area on Sunday evening (5 September 2021). The two previous attacks occurred in the Hankey District, one on 11 August 2021 and the second one on 19 August 2021.
The Democratic Alliance condemns these latest attacks in the strongest terms, and extends its condolences to the Buchner family for the loss of life and injuries that occurred during this horrific attack.
This latest attack once again highlights the vulnerability of our rural community. SAPS needs to pull out all stops to apprehend these criminals.
If this ongoing trend continues to plague the Sarah Baartman District, it could result in a catastrophic impact on rural safety and the viability of the agricultural sector in this area. Our farmers and rural communities in general deserve to live in a climate of safety and security.
Just last week, I again raised the issue of rural safety in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature by way of a question for oral reply to the MEC who is responsible for Community Safety, Ms Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe. In terms of the response, I was informed that the department evaluates the Rural Safety Strategy on an annual basis and this evaluation will be completed by the end of October 2021.
See: Oral Response IQP 29 Q 44
The Democratic Alliance has consistently put forward a number of proposals to improve rural safety in our province, and we will continue to fight for these proposals to be implemented. Chief of these proposals is the dire need for a Rural Safety Summit in the Eastern Cape.
The Democratic Alliance believes that some of the steps that can be taken to improve rural security are:
- The introduction of specialised units dedicated to protecting rural communities;
- Increase the research and statistical information on these crimes and make it available on an electronic dashboard;
- Increase the investigative capacity of SAPS. This means the utilization of every available technology, such as drones and CCTV cameras, when tracking perpetrators;
- The reclassification of farm attacks as priority crimes, which would result in an increase of resources made available to deal with them;
- There should also be tax relief measures for those in rural areas, such as farmers, who have to pay for private security companies, as well as subsidies for farm patrollers, farm watchers, and companies providing security in rural communities;
- We also need to increase the crime intelligence capacity for rural areas, and
- Border security needs to be improved upon.
I reiterate my call for a rural safety summit for the Eastern Cape. We need real change if we are to keep the people of this province safe.