Durban - A man accused of killing a couple on their farm in Newcastle abandoned his bail application in the Newcastle Magistrates court on Monday.
Siyabonga Goodman Macu, 29, appeared in connection with the murder of Glen Rafferty and his wife Vida Rafferty on August 29.
The couple were shot and killed on their farm in Normandien.
Macu faces two counts of murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery charges.
National Prosecuting Authority(NPA )regional spokesperson Natasha Kara said Macu’s legal aid attorney informed the court that he was abandoning his application for bail.
Kara said the matter was set for further investigation until October 29.
Chris Pappas, MPL -Democratic Alliance (DA) KZN Spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Development in an extensive written parliamentary reply to questions posed by the DA in KwaZulu-Natal has revealed staggeringly low arrest and conviction rates for the past two decades when it comes to murders and attacks against farmers and farm workers in the province.
The response, by KZN Community Safety MEC, Bheki Ntuli, covers the period 2000 to June 2020 and shows that;
• Only 43.7% of the total number of murder cases involving farmers ended in conviction
• Just 56.7% of the total number of arrests involving the murder of farmers ended in conviction
• Just 30.2% of the total number of cases involving the murder of farm workers ended in conviction and;
• 42.4% the total number of arrests involving the murder of farm workers ended in conviction.
The same reply also includes information on attacks on farmers and farm workers with the following statistics recorded between 2000 and June 2020;
• In terms of attacks on farmers, only 20.7% of the total number of cases opened ended in conviction while just 49.7% of arrests ended in conviction and;
• In terms of attacks on farm workers, just 15.8% of all cases opened resulted in convictions while only 34.7% of the total number of arrests ending in a conviction.
“It is now urgent that a solid and feasible plan is implemented in order to turn the current situation around. It is in this light that the DA has submitted a follow-up written parliamentary question to MEC Ntuli and to SAPS in a bid to ascertain the state of police services within our province’s rural and farming communities,” Pappas said.
Daily News