Jacques Smalle, MPL and provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), expressed his extreme dismay over the continued spate of brutal farm attacks in the province.

This comes after another farm attack in Tzaneen, during which Mr and Mrs Wiggel and their employee were brutally attacked and robbed by intruders and sustained serious injuries on their heads and bodies last week. Their house was ransacked and their Isuzu KB250 bakkie and cellphones were also stolen. “The DA is saddened by this brutal farm attack whilst still reeling from yet another farm murder last month in Thabazimbi,” said Smalle in a press release.

Smalle said that the DA had written to the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba, seeking an urgent meeting to get an update on farm attacks and crime in the rural areas, as well as an update on the challenges regarding executing the national rural safety plan. “It is clear that farmers and their employees living in rural areas face extreme danger. That is why there is the need for well-resourced crime units in rural and farming areas in the province,” Smalle said.

According to the current crime statistics, common robbery, robbery with aggravating circumstances and burglary at residential premises have increased from 26 717 in 2015 to 27 197 in 2016. “Farm attacks in Limpopo have taken on a very intense, frequent and brutal nature. If left to continue at this rate, it will irreversibly affect our local economy,” said Smalle.

Smalle said that experts predicted that commercial farmers' numbers would decline to 15 000 individuals over the next 15 years, causing significant job losses in the agricultural sector. “This will ultimately impact the local production of food and significantly reduce this province and country’s food security. It is clear that the national rural safety strategy is failing rural areas and farms. This is as a result of inadequate resources being provisioned from the start,” Smalle said. He added that the DA would request the police commissioner to establish well-resourced rural safety units as well as a highly trained and resourced SAPS that is trusted by the public to curb farm attacks and murders in the province. “We will further call for a joint partnership between the department of safety and security, social development and health to implement a trauma and counselling programme for farm attack victims whose pain remains undocumented and unaddressed,” Smalle said.