Three farm murders in one day
Two farm attacks took place in Theunissen and Bainsvlei in the Free State this morning, during which three murders were committed. The civil rights organisation AfriForum today once again appealed to the president to intervene to make the farm murder crisis in South Africa a national priority.
“This means that seven farm murders have now been committed since the beginning of the year,” said Ernst Roets, deputy CEO of AfriForum. “This is more than one farm murder every two days. If this trend is any indication of the rate of farm murders in 2015, it means that there will be more than 200 farm murders.”
“The sad part is that over the weekend the president twice made an appeal to farmers to improve the living conditions of farm workers. Yet, not a word is being said about the thousands of farmers who have been killed in recent years,” Roets added.
Details about the farm murders committed since the beginning of the year, are as follows:
| Date | Place | Details |
| 1 January | Sasolburg, Free State | Farmer shot in upper body while investigating suspected trespassing. |
| 5 January | Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal | Farmer shot in stomach. Bakkie, cell phone and laptop were stolen. |
| 5 January | Lephalale, Limpopo | Farmer’s wife found with wire around her neck, strangled. Two cell phones and bakkie were stolen. |
| 8 January | Muldersdrift, Gauteng | Farmer and his wife tied together. The man was assaulted with a brick and a shovel until he succumbed to his injuries. His wife survived. |
| 12 January | Theunissen, Free State | Farm house set alight, with woman’ body inside. Hilux bakkie and firearms were stolen. |
| 12 January | Bainsvlei, Free State | Couple murdered on farm. |
AfriForum and the agricultural union TAU SA will present a joint press conference in Centurion on this coming Thursday, 15 January, where the statistics on farm attacks and farm murders that were committed in 2014, will be announced. Among others, these attacks will be plotted on a map of the country and the most vulnerable areas will be highlighted. An action plan will be announced at the event.
In the meantime, the public is asked to bring any information regarding farm attacks to the attention of AfriForum by sending an e-mail to stopdiemoorde@afriforum.co.za.