The peaceful protest today in Senekal became destructive, when farmers protesting against the senseless and brutal murder of Brendin Horner, could not contain their emotions and attempted to storm into the holding cells at the court.
With emotions at these levels, this type of action will inevitably result. While shots were fired and vehicles were damaged, Agri Eastern Cape is relieved that there were no serious injuries or any further loss of life. Any attack on a farmer, his family or staff and their families, should be regarded as seriously as an attack against the country. Our farmers need to be able to operate and feed our nation without constantly being under threat of attack. What happened today must serve as a wake-up call to Government to urgently get to grips with what is happening on the ground. Strategies and plans to increase safety within our rural areas will mean nothing unless adequate resources are deployed.
This situation cannot be allowed to escalate, and Agri Eastern Cape calls on all Agricultural Organisations and SAPS to work even closer together to implement effective crime combatting strategies. We urge our affiliated associations to immediately bring to our attention any issues at station level that need addressing, where the implementation of the rural safety strategy is being hindered. It appears that finally, National Government is taking a stand on corruption. We now call on them to take on an equally firm stand against these senseless murders.
