More needs to be done about SA farm murders: unions
Trade union the South African Parastatal and Tertiary Institutions Union (Saptu) – affiliate of the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) – and Afriforum have called on government to act decisively, following a spate of high-profile attacks since the beginning of February.
“Saptu has noted with great concern that 11 people were killed on farms in the first 14 days of February this year alone, averaging one murder a day,” the federation said in a statement on Saturday.
This was echoed by Fedusa general secretary, Dennis George, as he noted that government should begin looking deeper into “the real causes” of farm killings, instead of treating them as traditional crimes or a way of dealing with the thorny land reform issue.
“Our agricultural community is a strategically important component that ensures stability by being putting food on everyone’s table,” said George.
“We strongly feel that regardless of our differences, the ongoing attacks on farmers will not help bring any solution. We need to escalate this problem and engage our government and encourage all citizens to unite and strongly condemn these killings.”
In a statement provided by Afriforum on 21 February, the union noted that number of farm deaths had risen to 15 since the start of February adding that the union had succeeded in its attempt to have farm murders declared a priority crime by the South African Police Service (SAPS), but that it believed it still was not receiving the necessary attention by government.
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