Farm attacks: Racism ruled out

2003-09-25 15:54

Cape Town - Pure criminal intent and not racism was behind violent acts against the farming community in South Africa, the committee of inquiry into farm attacks has found.

Releasing a report on farm attacks to the media in parliament on Thursday, committee chairperson Charl du Plessis said one of the main findings was that the attacks were not politically motivated.

"There were allegations that farm attacks were politically motivated, but 90% are acts of pure criminality."

Du Plessis said perhaps 2% of the attacks were racially motivated.

"The perception that farm attacks are racially and politically motivated is incorrect."

The majority of cases were motivated by a desire to rob or steal.

The report, however, raised concern that there was a level of organisation behind certain incidents with regard to land invasions, especially by traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal.

"There are indications that these invasions are likely to increase and the matter is of great concern to the committee."

Must implement the laws

There was also evidence that police refused to help farmers who were targeted for land invasions.

The report recommended that the ministry of agriculture and land affairs and police give urgent attention to ensuring that laws were implemented and the constitutional rights of land owners were protected.

"The SAPS must ensure that police at local police station level fulfil their legal duties in this regard when called upon to do so.

"The process of land restitution should also be speeded up in line with existing legislation," the report said.

While just more than 60% of the victims of farm attacks during 2001 were white, the proportion of black victims was increasing.

There was also a higher chance of a white victim of a farm attack being killed or injured than a black one.

"On the other hand, the committee could find no general underlying racial motive for this discrepancy, and there might be a variety of factors which could account for it."

Inadequate security a problem

The majority of farm attacks were not as violent as people thought, the report stated.

The high-level publicity afforded to extremely violent farm attacks created an incorrect perception that all farm attacks were that violent.

However, it was found that victims of farm attacks ran a far greater risk of being killed than victims of cash-in-transit heists or than victims of house robberies in urban areas.

"There was thus some support for the notion that farm attacks were more violent than other robberies, but there was insufficient statistical data for proper analysis."

The report has found inadequate security on farms increased the problem.

"There is little doubt that security on many farms is inadequate or non existent, lacking even basic security measures such as burglar-proofing and guard dogs. There is also a general lack of alertness.

The committee's research suggests it could be of benefit for potential victims to receive training on how to react during an attack.

- SAPA