Extracts from Chapter Two of the Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Farm Attacks, July 2003:
Motives for farm attacks
The Committee analysed the 3544 cases on the NOCOC database in an attempt to determine the motives for the farm attacks. Obviously, more than one factor may motivate a farm attack or cause an attacker to select a specific farm. The Committee therefore tried to identify the cases where the apparent primary or main motive was either robbery, intimidation, political, racial or labour related. A clear motive was apparent in 2644 cases.
|
Table 22: Apparent motive for farm attacks 1998 - 2001 (NOCOC) |
|||||
|
Year |
Robbery |
Intimidation |
Political/ Racial |
Labour Related |
Total |
|
1998 |
552 |
47 |
17 |
8 |
624 |
|
1999 |
576 |
33 |
10 |
13 |
632 |
|
2000 |
602 |
74 |
10 |
15 |
701 |
|
2001 |
631 |
34 |
15 |
7 |
687 |
|
Total |
2361 |
188 |
52 |
43 |
2644 |
|
|
89.3% |
7.1% |
2.0% |
1.6% |
|
In the other cases the motive could not be established from the database alone because nothing was apparently stolen, or there was another motive such as rape. In Table 22 these other cases are ignored for the present purposes.
- It will be seen that in 2361 (89.3%) of the cases, the motive was clearly robbery. As explained above, this figure is likely to be substantially higher, since the NOCOC database does not accurately reflect the items stolen.
- There were 188 cases (7.1%) of intimidation, for example where crops or buildings were set alight or where people were shot at without reason.
- In 52 (2.0%) cases some political or racial motive was apparent. To determine political or racial motives the Committee relied largely upon utterances made on the crime scene, the remarks of the compilers of the statistics or on some other indication. One has to assume that such overt indications of a political or racial motive will not always be present and that the figure may be higher than the 2.0% indicated.
- Forty three cases (1.6%) were labour related, such as disputes over wages.
[CUT]
Involvement of farm workers in the attacks
An analysis of the National Operational Co-ordinating Committee (NOCOC) database indicated that the involvement of farm workers in farm attacks is very limited. (See Table 23.) It will be seen that the percentages varied from 3.8% in 1998 to 2.0% in 2001, with an average of 2.8%. Even though the NOCOC figures in general are not completely reliable, these figures can be regarded as reasonably accurate. The reason is that guilty farm workers usually disappear immediately after the attack, marking them as obvious suspects.
|
Table23: Involvement of farm workers in attacks: 1998 to 2001 (NOCOC) |
|||
|
Year |
No of workers |
No of attacks |
Percentage |
|
1998 |
32 |
835 |
3.8% |
|
1999 |
30 |
853 |
3.5% |
|
2000 |
19 |
894 |
2.1% |
|
2001 |
20 |
962 |
2.1% |
|
Total |
101 |
3544 |
2.8% |
Even if it is accepted that this figure may be somewhat higher, it is clear that farm workers do not constitute a significant proportion of farm attackers. This really puts paid to the argument raised that many farm attacks are carried out by disgruntled workers.
Source: SAPS website (see here)
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
