KZN’s rural security strategies are not working
Dr Rishigen Viranna, MPL, DA KZN Spokesperson on Community Safety and Liaison, writes:- LAST week’s tragic farm attack, which saw a Nyoni man killed and his brother seriously injured, is a yet another senseless and barbaric incident which has highlighted the deficiency of KZN’s rural security strategy. An April 2015 response by the KZN Community …
Dr Rishigen Viranna, MPL, DA KZN Spokesperson on Community Safety and Liaison, writes:-
LAST week’s tragic farm attack, which saw a Nyoni man killed and his brother seriously injured, is a yet another senseless and barbaric incident which has highlighted the deficiency of KZN’s rural security strategy.
An April 2015 response by the KZN Community Safety and Liaison department to questions by the DA confirms that between 2012 and 2014 there were 178 farm attacks and almost 20 farm murders reported at police stations across the province.
While the scourge appears to be widespread, police stations in KwaDukuza, Paddock and Camperdown seem to have a bigger share of the problem.
It is quite clear from these figures that the department’s current interventions when it comes to rural safety are both ineffective and dysfunctional.
The DA believes that to ensure the safety of farming communities, there must be a specialised SAPS rural safety unit, reaction units deployed to crime hotspots in outlying areas and proper crime intelligence gathering, with the creation of a SAPS rural intelligence centre.
Safe rural communities are the life blood for a free and economically viable agrarian economy in KZN. Our farmers and farm-workers are vital cogs in ensuring the food security of our province and nation.
They must receive the support they need.
