Black Monday farmers Protests in Pretoria
Several people dressed in black gathered across Mzansi blocked highways with tractors, trucks and cars.
The protest was a organised to make awareness on the attacks of farmers spiralling out of control.
According to Africa Check, the South African Police Services recorded 49 people who were murdered in farm attacks during the 2015/16 financial year.
Meanwhile during the 2015/2016 financial year, 79 police officers were killed.A statement by the police stated that 40 of the cops died in the line of duty.
Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula also released Crime Stats last week.
Mbalula told Parliaments, Portfolio Committee on Police that carjacking increased by 14.5%, robbery at residential premises by 7.3%, and robbery at non-residential premises by 5%.
Africa Check’s senior researcher Kate Wilkinson recently published an article of the mess around farm murders in Mzansi.
Wilkinson made reference to a Parliament incident were two different farm murder rates were shared.
The Freedom Front Plus told Parliament, that the farm murder rate stands at 133 per 100,000.
And then out of the blue the African Christian Democratic Party mentioned a lower figure.
“Whilst we have an unacceptably high murder rate in this nation of 34 people per 100,000, for farmers the figure is 97 per 100,000. Almost 3 times the average,” African Christian Democratic Party’s Steve Swart said.
Aggravated robbery also increased overall, in the country by 6.4%.
The police in their Rural Safety Strategy define farm murders, as the people killed whiles living and working on farms and smallholdings where agriculture takes place also including the visitors to these properties.
Former police crime information analysis centre and crime analyst, Chris de Kock, told Africa Check, that this meant the people who are murdered could be a farmer or their families but also farm workers and visitors should be included in the calculations.