After 11 years of speculation, the police have finally released farm-attack statistics after being pressured by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+).

In a press statement released by the leader of the party, Dr Pieter Groenewald, he wrote, “The FF+ welcomes the decision by the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, and the Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, to once again release statistics on farm attacks and murders after 11 years of silence on the matter.

“The last time that these statistics were disclosed was in 2007. The FF+, however, continued to request the figures by way of parliamentary questions, and answers have finally been provided.

“In essence, the party asked for the number of attacks and murders that took place in every province since 2012 to be disclosed. From the answer, it can be determined that the number of attacks increased (561 attacks) during the last year (2017/ 18), while there was a decrease in attacks during the previous three years.

“The figures show that over the six years since 2012, there have been 3 059 attacks altogether (on average, that is 509,8 per year) in which 338 people were killed (on average, that is 56,3 per year),” wrote Groenewald.

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“During this time, most of the attacks took place in the North West province (722 attacks) and Gauteng (644 attacks). The province with the highest number of murders during this time, however, is Gauteng (69 murders), followed by the North West and KwaZulu-Natal (61 murders each). If these figures are compared to other available sources, then they seem to be fairly reliable. It is regrettable that these statistics were swept under the rug under the administration of former President Jacob Zuma,” he continued.

“Without the necessary statistics on crime, one is left groping in the dark and then it is not possible to take meaningful action and implement preventative measures.

“In the interim, the FF+ will continue with its action plan to inform the international community of the exploits and particularly the cruelty of murders in South Africa, by actively liaising with, amongst others, the European Parliament and governments as well as the United Nations through the FF+’s UNPO membership. In this regard, statistics on farm attacks and murders released by the government will surely carry more weight than the statistics of other institutions,” Groenewald concluded.

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