Farm attacks are still increasing, with growing intensity, as the recent incident in Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal shows, where ten people with AK 47’ launched an attack. In the interest of rural safety, statistics about this kind of crime must now be released, Dr. Pieter Groenewald, the FF Plus’ chief spokesperson on Police, said.
Dr. Groenewald, during today’s budget debate on the Police, said that there is a substantial increase in farm murders and attacks, during which black and white are murdered.
He called on the minister and the acting commissioner of Police to give definite attention to farm attacks and to release statistics about it, which are available, to neutralise guesswork and speculation.
Regarding violent crime, Dr. Groenewald said the last six months was a bad period for the Police. Statistics for this period shows there was an increase in violent crime, and in particular housebreaking is increasing every year.
“A home is supposed to be the specific place where one wants to feel safe and relax following a hard day’s work. It shows that there isn’t sufficient strict action against criminals. Violent crime is increasing and police action to combat this should be intensified.
“In this period, the country also saw the suspension of the former police commissioner, Rhia Phiyega, because she was dishonest about Marikana at the Farlam Commission. The decision was therefore taken that she should be suspended.
“Parallel to this, the Constitutional Court found that the minister’s, Nathi Nhleko, report on Nkandla had misled the public. It was viewed in such an important light that the court found that the minister has to be reprimanded for it. Was he reprimanded?
“I expected that the minister would at least today during this debate apologise to the people of South Africa for the report.
“The FF Plus welcomes the Police’s turnaround strategy of “Back to Basics”, and we would like to wish the acting police commissioner, Gen. JK Phalane, good luck with his team. There are already visible improvements, and we hope that it will continue to improve,” Groenewald said.
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