It took the life of an innocent, defenceless young man, who had his entire life ahead of him, for the cries of a crime-ridden farming community of Paul Roux and surrounds to be heard.
“We have people listening to us now, and I really hope that young man’s life [Brendin Horner] was worth all of this. At least he died for the change that we are working towards.
“It is sad that a young man had to lose his life for our concerns to be heard. Hopefully this is the beginning of a big change in the views of the people and the way that we live in this country,” said Herkie Viljoen, chairperson of a safety committee in the area.
The committee represented about 400 farmers in the Paul Roux and Senekal areas.
On Tuesday afternoon, concerned farmers in the area handed police minister Bheki Cele a report listing the challenges they faced.
These included stock theft, the names of the police officers allegedly involved in crimes and the failure of the justice system.
According to Viljoen, about R1.2m is lost in stock theft every month.
“They are stealing us bankrupt.”
Cele said politicians were not “stones”, and every now and then those brutal farm murders and attacks reminded them that “you can’t take it all the time”.
Cele said during a visit to Horner’s family “you could see that she [his mother] is not coping”.
“She is literally shaking all the time. The father is on the coping side, but you can see the mother is absolutely not coping. I can say I sympathise, but no pain can put me on the level of pain of the mother and father who lost a child.”
Cele promised the community that he would return in three weeks’ time with an investigation team to tackle all the challenges head on.
“To me, this is economic sabotage. When you steal a million a month, this to me is a stock heist and not a stock theft. We need to put resources there so that we put a stop there.
“If we come back, we will be celebrating to say that our statistics have drastically changed, so let’s work together on that one. Nothing can grow where there is no stability and safety,” Cele said.
Cele said he hoped relationships between police and farmers could be restored.
“Yes, the rural safety plan is there, but we will be working on the specifics of this area. We want to know the market [of stock theft] and to shut it down. I am told that some of these meats are eaten at hostels, shisa nyamas [braais] and even some hospitals eat the stolen meat.”
Fanie Mashinini said last week criminals cut the fence on his farm and tried to steal his cattle.
“I have a man who keeps an eye on my farm who called me to say they wanted to steal my cows. We have a lot of problems in this area.
“I am positive today, because I heard that the minister is going to help us. I want the minister to send the police to help us. I fear for my life. They kill us. Even if you hear that there is someone outside your house, you are so scared to go outside and look because you are scared that they are going to kill you. We leave them [criminals] so that they steal the cows and leave you alone,” Mashinini said.
Michael Scheepers, a farmer from Fouriesburg, said he was part of the control room in Bethlehem that helps tackle crime and fires on farms.
Scheepers said some of the challenges faced were the inactivity of police in the area, lack of infrastructure, lack of police vehicles and time delays responding to crimes.
“You want to open case, but then you don’t get a case number. I think today, the minister addressed a few of those problems, and hopefully it will form a basis we can work on.
“We truly hope that there is some reaction on ground level and some people taking some responsibility for what they are doing at stations and that we can be proud of a proper police service again,” he said.
During the meeting, Cele had also pleaded with the farming community for calm ahead of the court appearance of the of Sekwetje Isaiah Mahlamba, 32, and Sekola Piet Matlaletsa, 44, who were arrested for the murder of Horner.
Cele said one of the murder suspects had 16 previous arrests for crimes including stock theft and robbery, and the other suspect had been arrested three times before.
The two men are expected to appear in the Senekal Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
“Let’s stay far away from anything that can ignite fire there.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Andre Pienaar, who was arrested for his alleged role in a fiery protest in the Free State last week, was denied bail.
Dr Pieter Groenewald, leader of the Freedom Front Plus, who also attended the meeting, said the success of the meeting was the promise of the minister that he would return.
“I think that is why there is a lot of optimism among the community members, because we always hear that action will be taken, but in the end we don’t see results. If there is going to be results, then the problem can be solved.”
A concerned farmer in the area, Jess de Klerk, said he hoped for the speedy arrest of the “corrupt cops” and more farm murder arrests.
“We hope that all of those these can be addressed and that we have a better relationship with the minister and his office to address our concerns in the future.”
