Crime: Government has lost its ability to protect the public 

3 June 2019

Crime has been out of control for a long time in South Africa, but the incidents that transpired over the last few days set loud alarm bells ringing about the government's inability to protect the public. If crime is not curbed right now, then anarchy is surely inevitable and the FF Plus is urgently calling on the government to stop ignoring the warning signs.

Anarchy is not a word that the FF Plus uses lightly. It is a terrible state for a country to be in as there is no respect for authority, no one obeys rules and laws and the government can exercise no control whatsoever. South Africa is heading in this direction.

The illegal occupations of farms in the Cape, countrywide attacks on trucks and the destruction of trains and railway carriages in the Cape Peninsula can no longer be shrugged off or regarded as isolated incidents. The fact that these crimes are continuing unhindered shows that the government has basically lost all its intelligence abilities when it comes to crime prevention.

The reason for this is the incompetence of political and operational staff and the fact that any skills and abilities have been used mainly for the ANC government's political infighting over the last few years.

South Africa is now paying the price and things can get significantly worse seeing as the economy and crime are directly related. Crime hinders economic growth and a poor economy and the associated unemployment lead to even more crime.

Yesterday, Mr Stefan Smit (62), owner of the internationally renowned wine estate Louiesenhof just outside Stellenbosch, was murdered in his house after dinner.

Several weeks ago, Mr Tool Wessels was murdered on his farm outside Bonnievale after he was brutally tortured and on Friday, Mrs Monica (68) and Mr Basil Deniacos (79) were murdered in Dealesville. These are just a few of the many other murders and attacks that took place across our country over the last few weeks.

Fifteen farm owners, including the owner of the well-known wine estate D’Aria near Durbanville just outside Cape Town, had to approach the court to obtain interdicts to have illegal occupants removed from their land after the BLF distributed letters among the employees that incited them to occupy the land.

According to media reports, the name of the BLF leader, Andile Mngxitama, appeared in the letters that encouraged people to 'take agricultural land back from white thieves'. Even after an interdict was granted in the D'Aria case, Mngxitama apparently said that the BLF and its supporters would simply 'target other farms'.

Seventeen trucks were torched yesterday in a series of incidents that took place in Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, the Western and Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.

In Cape Town, two trains and numerous carriages were torched over the weekend. Last month, ten railway carriages burnt down at the Cape Town station and the damage amounts to approximately R33 million. This forms part of a prolonged series of attacks on the Cape Metro railway system.

In Alexandra, Johannesburg, residents torched the houses of fellow residents after the Johannesburg Metro Police demolished illegal structures. Last Friday, a clinic at the Strand near Cape Town was set alight and totally destroyed.

The abovementioned goes to show that there are serious shortcomings in the police service and the government's crime prevention institutions. The prosecution and penalties are inadequate and, thus, do not serve as deterrents.

A consequence of the crime situation that is potentially just as dangerous is the racial tension that it brings about. The FF Plus will engage with the government regarding the level of crime in our country and will keep on focusing the international community's attention on the ANC's inability to govern properly.

Urgent attention must be given to rural safety as well as the resources at the disposal of the police in rural areas to prioritise crime prevention.

The FF Plus is calling on everyone in South Africa to join hands with the party and support it in the fight against crime, which threatens everyone in South Africa.

Issued by Pieter Groenewadl, FF Plus Leader, 3 June 2019