The South African Institute of Race Relations called on the government to take swift action in addressing crimes in the agricultural sector which cost it more than R7 billion last year.
“Agri-SA’s recently released report on crimes affecting farms is a timely call to appreciate the scale of the criminal threat to the farming sector and to take appropriate action,” said IRR project manager Terence Corrigan.
The Agri SA report showed that 70 percent of farms had experienced some form of crime in 2017 with stock theft being the most common crime, followed closely by the theft of infrastructure and the theft of equipment.
“Agri-SA’s survey is an invaluable attempt to quantify the perilous situation under which farming households exist. This applies to all farming communities, farmers, and their employees, of every race. Too often, voices both in the state and in society, not least the President, have tried to play this down. It deserves to be acknowledged for the very real and debilitating problem it is,” said Corrigan.
He added that he noted that most farmers did not report all the crimes committed to the authorities.
“The results here suggest a sense of alienation and frustration on the part of many farmers, reporting crime would be a pointless exercise, there is nothing that the police could do, and so on,” he said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
