Cape Town - Two months after a number of farm killings across the province spurred calls for action on rural safety, the MEC for Community Safety has said that despite limited resources, a total of R5million has been made available to facilitate safety plans across the province, inclusive of rural districts.
In response to queries about the implementation of a rural safety plan that the provincial government had pledged to have in place by last month, MEC Albert Fritz said: “Implementation of the Rural Safety Strategy is ongoing and the national minister has agreed to the need to review and update the strategy.
“The Western Cape has also started the process of drafting a provincial response to the National Rural Safety Strategy to ensure that the often-unique safety challenges of various rural communities are considered as per section 206 (1) read with (2) of the Constitution,” said Fritz.
Concerning the Rural Safety Inter Ministerial Committee proposed in June at the height of farm attacks in the province, the MEC said agreement had been reached with the key role-players on the establishment of the committee, and that a technical committee on rural safety linked to the existing structures of the Joint Operations and Intelligence Forums within the Criminal Justice Cluster Departments, most noticeably the SAPS, NPA, Correctional Services and the State Security Agency, had also been set up.
Agri SA chief executive Jannie Strydom said: “The inter-ministerial task team has been set up, and Agri Western Cape is part of the rural safety technical work stream. We’re excited to work with all stakeholders addressing issues of safety that impact on all the residents of the province’s rural areas.”
Fritz also mentioned the activation of the court watching briefs on cases involving rural safety. He said: “Two cases are being monitored through the court watching briefs. In one case, bail was given and the other (that was in Stellenbosch) is still pending.
“Expert reports have been tabled to oppose bail while we await the ruling of the court.
“The two cases being monitored are the (June4) attack on the family in Klapmuts and the (May14) attack on a truck driver on the N1 in De Doorns. No arrest has yet been made in respect of the Stellenbosch case,” said Fritz.
The MEC said the aims of the Rural Safety Strategy included aligning available law enforcement resources to respond to the safety needs of rural communities.
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