AfriForum instructs its legal team to request police information on farm murders

AfriForum today instructed its legal team to consider options for forcing the national commissioner of police, Riah Phiyega, to release more information on farm murders to the organisation. This follows after the commissioner alleged that farm murders have declined over the past five years, while the data collected by AfriForum and TAU SA clearly indicates that the figures released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) are incomplete.

Ernst Roets, Deputy Executive CEO of AfriForum, explained that, according to the records of AfriForum and TAU SA, at least 316 farm murders regarding which the information can be verified were committed during the past five years. However, Phiyega maintains that, according to the SAPS, there were only 271 farm murders during the same period.

“Whether the police commissioner is being deliberately misleading, or whether the SAPS – through sheer negligence – is unable to release reliable figures on farm murders is not yet clear. That is why we have to find out the truth.”

AfriForum will specifically request the names of all the farmers who were murdered in the past five years according to the police to determine which farm murders were not recorded by the police. The commissioner will also be requested to reveal the methods used by the police with regard to the gathering of statistics on farm murders.