DA condemns latest farm attack at Koffiefontein

Issued by James Letuka MPL – Caucus Chairperson of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature
13 Oct 2020 in Press Statements

Note to Editors: The following Member’s Statement was delivered today during a sitting by James Letuka MPL, the DA Caucus Chairperson of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns in the strongest terms the latest farm attack on a farm in the Koffiefontein district alongside all other attacks on farmers and their farm workers in the Free State.

The farmer from Koffiefontein had yesterday gone out on the farm to investigate smoke which had emerged, when he was attacked by two suspects. The farmer was hit with an object on the head by one suspect and attacked with a knife by the second. He was doused in petrol and set alight, but managed to fight off the attackers, discharge his firearm in self-defence and jumped into a swimming pool to douse the flames. The attackers fled the scene.

The DA has been consistently vocal in the Free State in our calls for the SAPS to deal with the scourge of farm attacks and the lack of rural safety. The DA has been driving these issues in the following ways:

• The DA is the only political party with a well-researched and comprehensive national rural safety strategy that if implemented could turn the tide against rural and cross-border crime.

• The DA has a national farm attack monitoring group under the supervision of DA Member of Parliament Dianne Kohler Barnard with representatives in every legislature in the country. The Free State Legislature Caucus representative is Leona Kleynhans who reports daily to the national structure.

• The DA carries out regular oversight visits to hotspots such as the porous Lesotho border to highlight the issue of cross border crime that has a hugely detrimental economic impact on our agricultural community in the province.

• The Leader of the Opposition Dr Roy Jankielsohn has submitted a Private Member’s Bill, the Community Policing Bill, to the Free State Legislature that is being processed. This Bill seeks to give the MEC responsible for policing in the province the authority to create an independent ombudsperson to investigate or channel complaints against the police to the correct institutions. The Bill further seeks to register farm patrols and neighbourhood watches that will also allow for resources to be allocated to them and monitor crime statistics and the use of police resources in the province.

• Many DA public representatives in the Free State are also actively part of farm patrols, fire associations and neighbourhood watches in the province.

• The DA in the Free State Legislature is also involved in litigation against Ace Magashule and Julius Malema regarding “hate speech”. The litigation is awaiting a Constitutional Court judgement that will hopefully supply clarity on the term hate speech.

• At national level the DA is attempting to get hate speech declared as a crime and has also most recently lodged criminal charges against Julius Malema for incitement to commit violence.

The DA notes the visit of the Minister of Police Bheki Cele and Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo to the Free State to talk to the family of the recently murdered Brendin Horner and farmers. The DA has confronted these Ministers and MECs on the issue of rural safety in Parliament and Legislatures and explained what needs to be done.

The scourge of crime in South Africa must be confronted head on by government who have a constitutional duty to protect all our citizens from harm. The DA will continue to confront and evaluate the ANC-run government on their actions in this regard, not on their words.