Farm workers in the Levubu and Louis Trichardt area say their lives are in danger and they are living in fear, following the brutal murder of Mr Eric Neshunzhi on the farm Goedehoop on Friday 1 July.

The murder comes amidst a two-month-long violent crime spree in die area that is believed to be the work of the 24-year-old Brighton Chauke, a Zimbabwean man who escaped from police custody in October last year. The police, however, have stated that Chauke might not be connected to Friday´s shooting.

Several incidents of armed robbery and housebreaking on farms had been reported in the area since the beginning of May. “Our lives are at risk, because the man [Chauke] keeps on targeting us - the farm workers. He robs us of our belongings, such as money and cell phones,” said one of the victims, Mr Samuel Muleya. According to Muleya, Chauke is a dangerous man who breaks everything he touches.

"The man is always in the company of his friends and always breaks into our homes on the farms while we are busy working in the field. All our furniture, such as TVs and DVDs, are stolen. Our lives are threatened here."

Muleya added that they were only safe during the daytime. “It´s no longer safe for us to walk around after 18:00 as we usually did. The cases were reported to the police, but nothing is happening,” said Muleya.

Some farm workers indicated that, should the situation continue, they would be forced to go home every afternoon and travel to the farms by bus the next morning.

"We are not going anywhere. This is our livelihood and we enjoy farming to produce food for the people. No one is going to stop us, because the poor people out there want something to eat," said Mr Enos Munyai, a supervisor at Neuhof Farm.

He said that if workers could move from the farm and go stay at their homes, the lives of the farm owners would also be threatened. "So we have decided to stay here. We are prepared to work with the police, so that the culprit can be put behind bars where he belongs. If the culprit can be arrested, things will go back to normal. For now, we are not safe," said Munyai.

With regard to Friday’s murder, police spokesperson for the Makhado police Capt Maano Sadike urged farm owners to sensitize their employees with regard to safety. He said farm workers should make sure they know each other. This would make it easier to identify unknown persons on the farm and report them to the farm owner or police. Sadike also urged farm workers to refrain from drinking too heavily over weekend as this has the tendency to lead to crime.