AfriForum requests access to farm murder statistics

In accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, AfriForum directed a formal request to the National Police Commissioner, Riah Phiyega, to hand over farm murder statistics from 1990 to 2015 to the organisation. The organisation further requested that the SAPS reveals the methodology concerning the collection of farm murder statistics.

This follows after government announced in 2007 that they would no longer collect any statistics on farm murders. Phiyega, however, declared in March this year that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has been collecting these statistics for all these years and that these numbers are updated for “operational reasons”. Phiyega revealed the numbers, but according to AfriForum’s data (in collaboration with the agricultural union, TAU SA), these numbers are clearly incorrect.

AfriForum has requested, amongst others, the following information from the Police Commissioner:

1. Annual statistics for farm murders and attacks from 1990 to April 2015.
2. Annual provincial statistics for farm murders and attacks from 1990 to April 2015.
3. Annual statistics for farm murders and attacks arranged according to region from 1990 to April 2015.
4. Local police stations’ statistics for farm murders and attacks from 1990 to April 2015.
5. The document in which the methodology for the gathering of data for 1 to 4 above has been set out as well as the processing thereof.

According to AfriForum and TAU SA’s records, the verified number of farm murders, up to the date Phiyega released the information, is at least 316 murders in the last five years. Phiyega claims that according to the SAPS, there were only 271 farm murders in the same time.

“The public has been kept in the dark for long enough now and AfriForum deems it necessary for the SAPS to reveal this information, also for the sake of public trust in the SAPS. The Police Commissioner’s claims that farm murders have decreased in the last five years are strongly questioned, as our list shows more verified names of farm murder victims than the sum total of Phiyega’s numbers,” said Ernst Roets, Deputy CEO of AfriForum.

Furthermore, Roets said that making the farm murder statistics public, would indicate whether the Police Commissioner adapted the numbers to mislead the public, or whether the SAPS is incompetent or negligent in keeping these statistics up to date.