Farm attacks rise by 60% over the past decade – TAU SA announces semi-annual agricultural crime figures.
TAU SA is extremely concerned about the increase and brutality of farm attacks in South Africa, with a 60% increase over the past decade.
These statistics were announced today during the organization’s announcement of farm attack and murder figures.
According to TAU SA’s official Incident Register, which has been updated since 1990, 1 125 farm attacks were reported between 1990 and 1999. Between 2000 and 2009, 1 407 cases – a 22% increase – were reported, and 2 616 farm attacks across the country – a 60% increase – have been recorded in the past nine years from 2010 to 2019.
In the corresponding times, farm murders increased from 637 (1990 to 1999) by 22% (799 murders) between 2000 and 2009. In the next nine years to 2019, 586 farm murders occurred.
“These figures are shocking. But for TAU SA it’s not just numbers, ”Gen. Maj. TAU SA’s deputy general manager Chris van Zyl said. “It is 2 022 members of our farming community who have been murdered since 1990. It is 5 148 times that families and farm workers feared for their lives in a farm attack. ”
“But still it’s not important enough for government and President Cyril Ramaphosa to condemn this attack on farmers,” he said. “There have been several occasions this year for the president to give the necessary recognition to farm attacks and murders. The reasonable person can therefore assume that he and, of course, the ANC government, regard this crime as inferior and approve it. ”
TAU SA is aware that crime across the country is out of control with 56 daily murders. According to Dr Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies, over the past six years there has been a 17% increase in murders and more than 20,000 people killed in 2017/18.
Dr. Burger introduced more light on the scale of crime in South Africa during the launch of the farm attack trends, focusing on the brutality of crime.
“The high levels of violence and purposeful torture in farm attacks and murders, however, is what sets these crimes apart from other violent crimes,” Gen. Maj. Van Zyl said. “There is a clear link that can be made to the land issue. The agricultural sector should see safety as the main competitor. ”
In this light, it is also important for the farming community to know when and how to act and what the consequences of the action are in a farm attack. Dr Llewellyn Curlewis, attorney and lecturer at the University of Pretoria, explained the audience about the reasonable person’s actions given the adaptability of the Common Law.
According to Dr Curlewis, it can be argued that a person has acted in an emergency to protect himself or herself, valuable property or another person, during a farm attack, provided certain requirements are met.
These requirements include the fact that an attack must be unlawful and directed against a worthy interest, as well as a real, immediate threat. It is also important to note that the minimum force should be used in such a situation.
TAU SA, in the light of these figures, recommends that during the next discussion with the National Police Commissioner in August attention will be paid to the following issues:
• An agricultural-friendly reservist system;
• The local integration of available resources;
• The reaffirmation of farm attacks and murders as priority crimes;
• Agricultural safety instead of farm attacks.
Furthermore, the agricultural community must focus on the utilization of technology, communication and information; and setting up and implementing contingency plans as already done by TAU SA.
-Vryburger / 2019-07-12
This report does not necessarily reflect the opinion of SA news.