5 farm attacks within 4 days – AfriForum

AfriForum will announce an action plan next week, intensifying its campaign for prioritising farm murders. The organisation is worried that the escalation in farm murders and attacks in 2013 will continue and worsen in 2014. During the past four days at least five farm attacks had taken place.

In the latest incident, a farmer and his wife were attacked by two armed men on their farm outside Barkly-East last night. The farmer, Sarel Pretorius from the farm Rooipoort, was shot dead. His wife was locked in the bathroom. The police reacted quickly and took fingerprints at the scene. AfriForum’s neighbourhood and farm watches were also mobilised to find the attackers, who had fled in the direction of Elliot. The attackers stole a white Toyota Hilux bakkie and firearms.

The community of Barkly East is still traumatised by the brutal murder of David (87) and Rallie de Villiers (86) in October of 2013.

The other four farm attacks during the past four days are as follows:

• 11 January – Bloemspruit. Dr Jacob Swart and his wife Elise were attacked on their farm with knives and steel pipes by two men. The attackers fled with a .22 revolver, a rifle, two cell phones and an undisclosed amount of cash.
• 12 January – Wallmansthal area. An R5 attack rifle, allegedly issued only to the SAPS, was used in an attack on two victims in their sixties. The farmer was wounded and electrical appliances were stolen.
• 14 January – Waterval area near Pretoria. The farmer was lured outside and attacked with a machete.
• 14 January – Wallmansthal area. A farmer was held hostage and attacked.

Ernst Roets, Deputy CEO of AfriForum, said that the campaign by AfriForum was aimed at getting the SAPS to declare farm murders a priority crime and to have specialist reaction units established to ensure rural safety.

“There is no fence left to sit on in this crisis. Either the police are part of the solution or they are part of the problem.”

Ian Cameron, Head of Community Safety at AfriForum, added that pressure on Government alone will not solve the crisis. Communities have the right and the ability to safeguard themselves.

“The don’t-care attitude of Government towards farm murders has created a situation where the public must take responsibility for their own safety. We appeal to people to become involved with community safety networks. In communities where these networks were established we can see a significant drop in crime.”

The campaign by AfriForum will include various awareness and protest actions, as well as a strategy to establish community safety networks across the country.