hELEN Zille DA BY-ELECTIONS

10-03-2020 NETWERK24 WOORDFEES – RAPPORT REGSTREEKS GESPREK MET HELEN ZILLE – Rapport Redakteur, Waldimar Pelser, gesels tydens ‘n Rapport Regstreeks gesprek met die Demokratiese Alliansie se Federale Leier, Helen Zille, tydens die Woordfees in Stellenbosch. Die gesprek was gehou in die Kruiskerk in Stellenbosch. foto: Jaco Marais

Zille: ‘We will one day have no food if farm murders continue’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has long called for an end to farm murders in South Africa and now Helen Zille is sounding the alarm

hELEN Zille DA BY-ELECTIONS

10-03-2020 NETWERK24 WOORDFEES – RAPPORT REGSTREEKS GESPREK MET HELEN ZILLE – Rapport Redakteur, Waldimar Pelser, gesels tydens ‘n Rapport Regstreeks gesprek met die Demokratiese Alliansie se Federale Leier, Helen Zille, tydens die Woordfees in Stellenbosch. Die gesprek was gehou in die Kruiskerk in Stellenbosch. foto: Jaco Marais

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) newly-appointed federal council chairperson Helen Zille has reiterated her concern over the spate of killings on South African farms, warning that they remain a threat to food security.

In an interview with 702, on Monday, 2 November 2020, Zille slammed the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) efforts to curb crime on farms, saying urgent action needed to be taken or the country risked going hungry.

“It is absolutely critical. More and more farmers are selling up if they can find a buyer, more and more farmers are parting with their land to the state, to enable a once productive farm to lie in ruin and we will one day have no food in this country if we carry on like this,” she said.

“There are only 40 000 farmers in South Africa and they feed us all 57 million people and they still have enough left over to export food to Southern Africa,” Zille further added.

Helen Zille: Farmers are at greater risk of being murdered in SA

The Minister of Police Bheki Cele has maintained that they’re hard at work fighting farm murders, particularly in the wake of the gruesome killing of Brendin Horner. Horner, a 21-year-old farm manager from Senekal in the Free State, was found tied to a pole and a rope was around his neck.

Zille one of the first steps towards addressing farm murders is getting rid of Cele, who has been fiercely criticised by the farming community and Afriforum for his handling of the crimes.

 “If you look at the proportion of farmers and the number of farm murders every year, you’ll find that farmers are 50 times more likely to be murdered than the ordinary South African. So that is proportion to all the numbers, they’re at risk,”

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) federal council chairperson Helen Zille

“But the bottom line is this: farm murders are taking place out of all proportions to the number of farmers in South Africa.”

During the DA’s elective congress over the weekend, the party approved a resolution which could see farm killings being declared a hate crime. The proposal had been brought forward by the party’s own Diane Kohler Barnard.

“The SAPS plan has failed and farmers, black and white, their wives, children, and parents are four times more likely to be killed than the average South African,” Kohler said.