SA farm murder report: Attacks remain high, arrests and trust in police low

AFRIFORUM released its annual farm murder report for 2022 on Tuesday. The report revealed that farm attacks remain high while arrests and trust in the police are low.

The organisation expressed its concern that only 33% of murder suspects were arrested in 2022. Their report revealed that farm attacks decreased in the past year from 415 attacks and 55 murders in 2021 to 333 attacks and 50 murders in 2022.

AfriForum’s community safety spokesperson Jacques Broodryk said: “Unfortunately, it is not clear whether the number of attacks actually decreased seeing as more and more cases are never reported to the police. I don’t think the public’s trust in the police has ever been as low as it is now.”

He urged farmers and the public, in general, to establish security structures and become actively involved in the safety of their communities. AfriForum has 160 neighbourhood watch structures nationwide and offers safety training to farmers.

“The Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, recently admitted that the police are unable to carry out their duties without the help of the communities involved, and for once I agree with him. AfriForum is investigating legal options to give farm and neighbourhood watches more power to carry out their tasks efficiently,” Broodryk said.

Taking a closer look, the statistics revealed that farm attacks occurred throughout 2022, with not a single month free from farm attacks. April had the most attacks (45), while July had the most murders (10). If the rate of attacks and murders is calculated for 2022, there was an average of 0.91 attacks per day. If murder is calculated separately from attacks, an average of 0.96 farm murders were committed almost every week.

Gauteng recorded the highest and the Northern Cape the lowest number of attacks. The Eastern Cape had the second-highest number of attacks, but only one murder incident was recorded. The high number for the Eastern Cape can be attributed to events that occurred in Kirkwood at the end of April when a violent protest erupted and resulted in extensive damage to agricultural property and the death of one person.

AfriForum’s report revealed that most murders in 2022 occurred on farms and 82% of murders in 2022 were committed on farms and 18% on smallholdings. When compared to the figures from 2021 (according to AfriForum Community Safety’s database), 76% of murders in 2021 were committed on farms, and 24% of murders were committed on small holdings.

“The reason for the increase in murders on farms and the decrease in murders on smallholdings for 2022 remains unclear at this stage,” the report read.

It stated that most murders were committed during the week, mostly on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which accounts for 24% of incidents. What is notable is that according to 2021 statistics for farm murders, Saturdays accounted for 20% and Sundays for 27% of murder incidents (ie, over weekends). Conversely, in 2022 most murders (69%) occurred during the week.

Most murders were committed between 6pm and 8.29pm (21%), and 9pm and 11.59pm (21%). These time slots are comparable to the SAPS’s time slots for 2019/2020, in that for 2019/2020 the 6pm–8.59pm and 9pm–11.59pm time slots were also the most prominent time of day when criminals committed farm murders. However, it is unclear if these time slots are also the most prominent for 2020/2021.

The report said that in 2022, 62% of murder victims were male, compared to 28% of female victims. In most cases, female victims were either family members of farmers or farmworkers.

“Most victims (52%) are over 60, which supports the belief that victims of farm murders are more physically vulnerable. The oldest murder victim was an 89-year-old woman, Elizabeth Lee from the farm Breeland, who was bludgeoned to death with a chair by a 15-year-old suspect, according to the SAPS. The youngest victim was 17-year-old Rhudie Binta, who, together with his mother and five other female victims, was ‘brutally shot and killed’, according to the SAPS,” the report read.

It said that 38% of murder victims can be classified as farmers since they either followed this vocation or were retired while still living on their farms. Farmworkers comprised 20% of all murder victims. Owners made up 8% of all cases. In 8% of cases, the occupation or profession of the murder victim could not be confirmed.

Some of the causes of death the report noted:

• 40% of victims were shot. In four incidents, either the victim or the victims’ relatives had been tied up before they were executed.

• In three separate incidents where victims were either assaulted or bludgeoned to death, they were also tied up. Cases, where victims were assaulted or bludgeoned, include being so severely assaulted that the victims either died at the scene or later in hospital.

• Stabbing accounted for 14% of deaths and hacking 4%. In one case, a foreman who had come to the aid of his employer was hacked to death in front of his employer.

The report said that most farm attacks involved more than two attackers. One incident even comprised 11 attackers but that was a case of stock theft.

Most cases that involved murder also resulted in the robbery of their victims’ property. The most prominent properties stolen include electronic goods (40%) and firearms (26%). In 19% of cases, vehicles were also stolen, the report read.

On arrests per province, it read that: “The Western Cape had a 100% arrest rate, with suspects apprehended in two incidents. The Northern Cape had an arrest rate of 60%, while KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, and the North-West all had a below-average (50%) arrest rate. What is troublesome is that no farm murder suspects were arrested in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.”

In conclusion, based on the information in the report, the following recommendations were made:

1. AfriForum must lobby for farm murders to become a provincial priority since those provinces that experience a high number of attacks, such as Gauteng, could acquire more resources. However, this lobbying at a provincial level should not come at the expense of campaigning against farm murders at a national level.

2. In some cases where the suspect(s) was arrested very soon after the crime was committed, the community was actively involved. Thus, role-players involved in combating farm attacks should continue to reach out to one another to maintain a good working dynamic. In addition, the possibility of establishing a central database for sharing information between role-players should be explored.

3. A detailed study of the modus operandi of farm attackers should be undertaken.

4. People in the agricultural community must receive safety or security awareness training. Furthermore, trauma counselling awareness efforts for victims should be increased.