PLATTELAND CRIME IS EXACTING AN INCALCULABLE TOLL ON RURAL COMMUNITIES
Joblessness, hopelessness and poverty are placing unbearable criminal pressure on small platteland towns, far flung farming communities and communal areas. The violent and brutal nature of crime in rural areas highlights the urgent need for a new approach to rural safety due to the vacuum that was left by the phasing out of the commando system. The rural areas are already reeling from unprecedented urbanisation and joblessness due to economic stagnation and this wave of crime is the final assault.
These crimes appear not to be a racial issue. On Saturday evening Ugie school principal Chris Gouws was brutally attacked and his teacher-wife, Helena brutally murdered. On Sunday night ex-ANC-MP David Dlali was murdered on his farm in Cedarville; in Etholeni Village in the former Transkei 20 people have been murdered since 2008. Not to mention how many farmers and farm workers have been killed in the past 17 years.
The Government and the SAPS have been holding talk shops on plans such as the Rural Safety Strategy, which was launched in Bethlehem a year ago (15 July 2011), which however has still not been implemented. It is imperative that any such strategies are rolled out as a matter of extreme urgency.
When I visited Mr Chris Gouws in Ugie on Monday (11 June 2012) I was told by witnesses of the bloody and horrific manner in which the couple had been attacked. While the after-incident reaction by the police was commendable, the response by the SAPS during the incident was lamentably pathetic.
Mrs Gouws phoned the police, who did not respond nor was there any response when she pressed their panic button. I was informed that the police could not respond because they did not have a vehicle available. It is clear from this incident that crime prevention is the Achilles heel of the SAPS and until this is addressed the above said communities will continue to attend the funeral services of their most important trusted and respected citizens.
The Gouws couple, who over the years both taught hundreds of Ugie's children, were highly regarded, highly respected people for the education they gave black and white in the community. That this is how they have been repaid for their community service is an indictment on our society. A life was lost because a crime could not be prevented. (The Democratic Alliance in the Bhisho provincial Legislature will ask all the necessary questions about why this crime was not prevented.)
The DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Annette Steyn yesterday also visited the scene of the crime where Mr David Dlali, former MP was so brutally murdered on his farm near Cedarville. These two murders perpetrated in the past week-end have left the relevant communities bereft of fine South African citizens who made a difference in their communities through honourable service to their fellow citizens.
The Democratic Alliance proposes a new approach to protect all rural communities. This plan includes:
1. Measures to strengthen the SAPS area crime combating units and sector policing systems in rural areas;
2. The creation of a SAPS Rural Intelligence Centre;
3. The establishment of a new specialised Border and rural Safety Division within it he SAPS;
4. Developing the post of Divisional Commissioner of Border and rural Safety to coordinate these new structures.
Available crime statistics from the SAPS do not distinguish between urban crimes and rural incidents such as farm attacks and murders. A rural intelligence centre would go a long way in ensuring that rural reaction units are deployed where they are needed. For the abbreviated version of the DA's Rural Safety policy, click here.
The DA believes in an Open Opportunity society for all where all citizens can enjoy a safe, crime-free environment. The DA continues to be the only party to offer feasible alternative policy proposals and practical solutions for the big issues facing South Africa, including combating the scourge of crime.
Statement issued by Athol Trollip, DA Shadow Minister: Rural Development and Land Reform, June 12 2012
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