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Police Minister Bheki Cele.
- SAPS will not classify farm attacks and killings as priority crimes.
- Police Minister Bheki Cele says that crimes associated with attacks on farms are classified as contact crimes, the category of most serious crimes.
- Cele adds that the police are investing resources in detecting and preventing attacks on farms.
Police Minister Bheki Cele says farm attacks and killings will not be classified as priority crimes.
According to Cele, this is because attacks on farms generally refer to incidents classified as aggravated robbery on a farm or home.
Cele says that attacks on farms are often associated with violence against victims, ranging from common assault, attempted murder and rape.
In response to a written parliamentary question from Attorney General Andrew Whitfield, Cele said that the police report 17 different crimes classified by communities and four categories of crimes, which depend on police action for their detection, in their annual crime statistics. .
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“The most serious of these crimes are grouped into the category, [and is] referred to as contact offenses and include murder, attempted murder, sex crimes, assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm, common assault, and aggravated robbery.
“Crimes associated with attacks on farms are, therefore, included in the most serious category of crimes reported by SAPS,” Cele said.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) recently adopted a national rural security strategy to curb crime in farming communities.
Cele said this was adopted as a means to address the threat of attacks on farms and killings in rural communities, to ensure food security and also to keep agricultural activities running safely.
He said:
It recognizes the need for a national response to address crime in rural areas and the need to work with stakeholders within and outside of government in this regard.
“All serious and violent crimes are focus areas in the revised national rural security plan that was implemented on March 1,” Cele said.
He added that the plan will be implemented over a five-year period and will end in 2025.
In July, FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald thanked Cele for the police’s national rural security strategy, while the district attorney claimed the government was doing nothing about the attacks on farms.
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The district attorney has spoken out on attacks on the country’s farms and launched an observation reporting campaign to monitor cases of attacks on farms in court.
Attacks on farms also received the attention of Vice President David Mabuza, who condemned the violent attacks against farmers and people in rural farming communities.
He stressed the importance of the agricultural sector to the country’s economy and called on all South Africans to value farmers and agricultural workers and to be relentless in their search for a better country.
Cele said the police are investing resources in detecting and preventing attacks on farms.
“All incidents in rural areas, including farms and small properties, are analyzed weekly, and provinces and police stations are tasked with addressing the identified hotspots.
“Rural security coordinators have been appointed to coordinate all activities within the rural police area and to strengthen the implementation of the national security plan at the police station level,” he said.
Cele also said that rural security is a top priority for SAPS.
“All the actors from the rural and agricultural community, the relevant government departments and civil society are involved in these security committees.
“Priority rural security committees meet monthly and quarterly to monitor incidents of violence on farms and small properties, establish trends and new developments, and plan preventive interventions and operations to ensure personal and food safety,” he said.
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