DA calls for community oversight over SAPS after Bapsfontein farm murders

7 February 2021

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite from Adrian Roos MP, Head of the DA Gauteng Court Watching Briefs Unit.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls for the urgent strengthening of community safety oversight in Gauteng after the tragic murder of two elderly persons on their smallholding in Bapsfontein this weekend.

Barely one in 20 farm attacks in Gauteng over the last eight months has resulted in an arrest and it is clear that the police are incapable or unwilling to implement rural safety plans in the province.

In response to a Parliamentary question from the DA on the status of farm murders in Gauteng reported between June and September 2020, several farm murders that occurred most recently were not even on the list provided by police. These include the brutal killings of:

Edwin Kotze, shot dead on 21 June 2020 at Buffelsdrift

Jules Stobbs, shot dead on 3 July 2020 at Sundrella

Martie Wolmarans, shot dead on 5 July 2020 at Grootvlei

Wayne and Janique Giles, shot dead on 1 August 2020 at Elandsfontein

The farm murders at Dewagendrift 30 June 2020, Honingnestkrans Rooiwal on 6 August 2020, Mooiplaats Boschkop on 20 August 2020 and Utopia Road Muldersdrift on 26 September 2020.

The DA will not allow these murders to fade into history unsolved, and will continue to hold the police to account.

Police in Gauteng have shown that they are unable to adequately track and report on farm attacks and it is clear that citizens need to be empowered to hold them to account where they fail and work more closely with those who want to protect the vulnerable in rural areas.

Recognising this need, the DA has introduced the Community Safety Oversight Bill in the Gauteng Legislature.

The functions of oversight are, in terms of the Bill, focused on detecting patterns and practices of police conduct, identifying systemic failures in the police system and making recommendations on how best to improve policing in Gauteng.

The Bill also provides for a holistic approach to determine policing needs based on information obtained in partnership with communities, civil society, other spheres of government and businesses.

The Bill supports the development and establishment of partnerships with the business community and other role-players, and the accreditation and support of neighbourhood watches aimed at increasing capacity for innovation, cooperation and the development of safety initiatives to promote good relations between the police and communities.

The DA calls on the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to push the Bill through the various committees and to the house without delay.

As long as the police are left to their own devices the arrest rate will remain low and perpetrators will continue to attack with impunity.

People on farms and smallholdings are more likely to be killed than police officers.

The knowledge of their community safety needs and the motivation to drive rural safety has the potential to lift rural safety plans off the page, and put them into practice.

Issued by Adrian Roos, DA Gauteng Court Watching Briefs Unit Head, 7 February 2021