Rural safety units: Despite ANC claim, our rural areas are unsafe

24 May 2017

The DA will submit urgent Parliamentary questions in the Provincial Legislature, after the ANC claimed that there were rural safety units already operational in the North west. The ANC’s revelation came soon after the DA’s member statement in the Legislature yesterday, where we condemned the senseless murder of Mr BC Greyling who was a farmer in the Tswaing area.

While the ANC would have us believe that there are rural safety units in service, the evidence on the ground suggests otherwise. The attacks on farming communities continue unhindered, even increasing on a year-on-year basis.

If the ANC wants to be taken seriously, it needs to prove the existence of these rural safety units and make public their mandate and their operations. They should explain why, despite the existence of these rural safety units, the safety of rural communities has continued to deteriorate.

From 1 January 2017 to April 2017, 113 farm attacks have taken place countrywide and 29 people have been murdered.

All people in farming an rural communities are affected and dehumanised by crime and violence, and both farm workers and farms are under attack.

The DA has repeatedly called for a new approach to rural safety that will prioritise the use of rural safety units which will act as a buffer against farm attacks.

In order to get an answer from the ANC on the allegedly operational Rural Safety Units we will table the following questions in the legislature:

- How many units are deployed and where?

- How many members are employed in these units?

- Give an account of the operations that they are currently engaged in to combat rural crime.

- What strategies do they have in place to overcome the rising cases of farm attacks in the Province?

Farm attacks and murders not only tear families apart but are a threat to the country’s food security and threaten job creation in the agricultural sector. The DA will ensure that the Provincial government provides us with concrete answers on their claim of the existence of rural safety units, to ensure the safety of farmers going forward.

Issued by Jacqueline Theologo, DA Whip North West Legislature, 24 May 2017