(Farm murder debate in North West Legislature)
The FF Plus welcomes yesterday's statement by Sello Lehari, North West's MEC for Community Safety, that farm murders and attacks must be declared priority crimes and that parties must not politicize the matter. The FF Plus has been striving to achieve this for many years.
In stark contrast to this, the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, allowed a public meeting on farm attacks at Newcastle in KwaZulu Natal to turn into a mudslinging targeting farmers.
He even said that farmers must not complain if they get hurt. According to the leader of the FF Plus, Dr Pieter Groenewald, statements such as the ones made by Cele are "a subtle form of incitement to violence against farmers".
During a debate in the North West Legislature, the FF Plus stated that the government must demonstrate the political will to strengthen the police's hand in the fight against farm attacks and other forms of violence in rural areas by urgently declaring these kinds of crimes to be priority crimes.
It will prevent criminals, who had been implicated in farm attacks, from being released on bail to just continue with their criminality.
The FF Plus also emphasised that some parties and political leaders' inflammatory and racist statements about the land issue and farm attacks contribute greatly to the problem.
Such statements and conduct have no place in a democratic, civilised society.
The FF Plus will continue to put pressure on all levels of government to have farm murders and attacks classified as priority crimes.
The cruel harassment of our vulnerable rural communities is a blemish on the reputation of the entire South African society and contributes to the general decline of rural areas.
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