The crime along the Lesotho-Free State border has reached the level of a low-intensity war.
Roy Jankielsohn Democratic Alliance spokesperson on Agriculture in the Free State Legislature said besides the theft of cattle farm equipment, vehicles and criminal syndicates who use the porous border to distribute illicit goods, the senseless maiming and killing of livestock puts this criminal activity on a different level.
The most recent being an attack on a farm on the Lesotho border near Wepener, where 18 cattle, including 13 cows and 5 calves, were slaughtered, and another 11 cattle were seriously injured after being stabbed with spears.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has a Rural Safety Policy that includes improved intelligence, the use of technology and improved visible policing along the border to curb such crimes.
What also needs to be done is agreements between the South African and Lesotho governments to allow for combined hot pursuit operations when cross-border crimes take place. The DA notes and welcomes the 20-year sentence handed down to perpetrators of a brutal attack on Mimie Jacobs in 2020. Besides crime prevention, harsh penalties for such crimes are an important deterrent for would-be criminals, and while we welcome this sentence, conviction rates for rural crimes remain unacceptably low due to a dysfunctional criminal justice system.
Farm attacks and theft affect food security and the livelihoods of subsistence, emerging and commercial farmers, whom the DA regards as national assets. The DA in the Free State hopes that the Free State Community policing bill will contribute towards better policing in the Free State and greater oversight over and accountability of the SAPS by the relevant MEC and the provincial legislature.