Wave of farm attacks in the Western Cape alarming

24 October 2017

The sudden wave of farm attacks in the Western Cape is extremely disturbing and rightly raises the question of whether this evil has now spread to this province as well, says Dr Corné Mulder, leader of the FF Plus in the Western Cape.

In the most recent incident Mr Joubert Conradie (47), a farmer of Klapmuts near Stellenbosch, was shot dead on his farm Uitkyk. And just ten days before, Mr Mark Fagan (46) from Klein Dassenberg near Philadelphia, was also shot dead.

Several weeks ago, a farmer from Ceres in the Cold Bokkeveld, was attacked and stabbed with a knife several times in his roadside stall. He survived the attack.

Dr Mulder says that the Cape has been holding its breath for quite some time in anticipation of farm attacks spreading to the province, until now such attacks have mostly been unheard of.

“At this stage it is not possible to say whether or not the attacks constitute a wave of such crimes in the Western Cape. These three farm attacks, however, have set alarm bells ringing. 

“The FF Plus wants to caution local farmers to approach safety on their farms in a new way, to increase security measures and to always be vigilant as farm attacks can occur anywhere in the country.

“The FF Plus also calls on the police to do everything in their power to find the offenders so as to gather intelligence on the possibility of any more attacks on farms. Drastic plans are needed to prevent the wave of farm attacks spilling over to the Western Cape.

“We also request that Agri Western Cape will cooperate with all the other role players to ensure our farmers’ safety,” says Dr Mulder.

Issued by Corné Mulder, FF Plus provincial leader: Western Cape, 24 October 2017