Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay
Being the victim of one farm attack is traumatic enough, but suffering two during the lockdown is beyond the pale. Betrus Kotze was battered by crooks who raided his property this week, as farmworkers were also targeted in Mokgalakwena, Limpopo. Shockingly, this gang had beaten Kotze just a couple of months before.
The alleged “lawlessness” in this region has allowed an unrepentant criminal syndicate to target a landowner twice, with little to deter them from striking again. This latest farm attack was particularly brutal:
The DA has been campaigning for years to toughen-up rural security in crime hot-spots. This part of Limpopo has seen two other serious farm attacks take place in July, and DA Limpopo Leader Jacques Smalle has demanded that more resources are made available to the Mokgalakwena SAPS to prevent these heinous acts.
“We condemn the attack on Betrus Kotze on his farm at Tinmyne in the Mokgalakwena municipality yesterday afternoon. The attackers fled to a nearby settlement where they were picked up by a vehicle road. This is the second attack on Kotze in two months. The attackers were identified as the same in both attacks.”
“It is clear that the SAPS in the remote areas of Mokgalakwena municipality are not adequately resourced to effectively deal with farm attacks, hence the re-occurrence. There were also farm attacks at Percy Fyfe and Dwaalboom in Mokgalakwena municipality this month. We wish a speedy recovery to all the victims.”
Jacques Smalle
It is time for the provincial government to pay serious attention to farm attacks in our province. Farmers and farm workers alike need to feel safe in their homes. #StopFarmAttacks
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) July 23, 2020