WATCH: DA takes a stands against farm attacks
DA City of Johannesburg Caucus spokesperson, Councillor Dalu Cele, who happens to be a farmer, highlighted the snowball effect when farmers are under siege.
In a bid to denounce the ugly scourge of farm attacks, local members of the DA took a firm stand against this serious crime.
Ward councillors and loyal branch members of the party came out in numbers on Friday, 13 November, on the busy intersection of Peter Road and Beyers Naudé Drive in Zandspruit informal settlement in Ward 114, to demonstrate peacefully.
The organising member of this silent protest, councillor Belinda Echeozonjoku, spoke about the reason for staging this protest in her ward.
“We chose this intersection simply because the area comprises of informal settlements, smallholdings and small-scale farmers who all rely on each other,” she said.
In hindsight, the location also provided the perfect setting to make a strong impact. Motorists who sat in traffic due to the ever-dysfunctional traffic lights could easily read the boldly printed placards. The afternoon peak-hour traffic created sufficient delays for the blue team to interact with the motorists as they slowly crawled out of the congestion.
An enthusiastic Belinda told Northsider that the action stemmed from the question that was posed by the worried residents about the DA’s stance on this crisis, as smallholding owners remain prime targets for home invasions in the area.
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“The residents asked me what the DA is doing to address farm attacks. As my response, we then took to the streets as this crime does not only affect farm owners but farm workers as well, who hail from the informal settlements within the area,” she explained.
She further explained that the residents working on these holdings and farms joined in also to show solidarity as they receive so much help from the vulnerable farmers.
“Besides job creation, when there is a shack fire in Zandspruit, the smallholding owners are always quick to donate items to the affected families. So this was their way to fight for them,” Belinda said.
DA City of Johannesburg Caucus spokesperson, Councillor Dalu Cele, who happens to be a farmer, highlighted the snowball effect when farmers are under siege.
“As farmers, we take care of food production. So if we attack and kill people who are involved in food production, we are putting food security at risk in this country. Also, there are a lot of livelihoods that depend on working the land and earning an income out of it. So as the DA we stand for everyone who is involved in food production,” Cele weighed in.
As this was only the start, the councillors who were involved were eager to plan similar protests in their respective wards to bolster the campaign.
