DURBAN - TWO suspects, who were arrested for a Camperdown farm robbery this week, have been linked to the theft of a firearm in Mpumalanga township, outside Hammarsdale, nine years ago.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said in the incident on Wednesday, an 80-year-old farm owner and his employee were tied up by two suspects at his farm on Umlaas Road in Camperdown while the farm house was robbed.
The arrests come after an incident in Paulpietersburg on Saturday, where a farmer and his wife were attacked. The suspect shot at them and fled on foot. Police are investigating an attempted house robbery.
In Wednesday’s incident, Shaheen Suleiman from Magma Security said an officer went to the scene.
“The farm owner had been busy with his employee fixing the engine of the lawnmower in the workshop when two men entered.
“One of them had a handgun and demanded that the two victims lie on the ground. The suspects bound both victims’ hands with tape and demanded the keys for the main house which the owner complied with.”
Suleiman said that the employee managed to untie himself and his employer and phoned a neighbour who alerted Magma security, the SAPS and the farming community in the area.
“The suspects were traced and arrested close to the crime scene.”
He said the men were found in possession of a Dell laptop, Pioneer DVD player, two binoculars, rechargeable light, headphones and a black golf bag.
Mbele the suspects, aged between 27 and 32, also had a firearm in their possession. She said the firearm had been stolen in October 2013 from a 42-year-old man at Blocksini Stop in Georgedale, Mpumalanga township.
Mbele said both suspects will be profiled to establish if they are linked to any other cases. They are expected to appear today in Camperdown Magistrate’s Court for robbery and the unlawful possession of a firearm.
Kwanalu CEO Sandy La Marque said that the organisation had attended to the Paulpietersburg matter with the police.
“As concerns continue to rise regarding the ability of the SAPS to address rural crime, and in particular combat attacks and murders in rural areas, we wish to remind the SAPS and relevant stakeholders that a clearly laid out national rural safety strategy exists, which if implemented without fear or favour, will see a turnaround in crime on farms and rural areas.”
She said Kwanalu has researched farm attacks and murders in KZN for more than 20 years and it was evident that socio-economic needs had to be addressed and more needed to be done to combat the poverty, crime and unemployment in rural areas.
Dr Siyabonga Madlala, executive chairman of the South African Farmers’ Development Association (Safda) said the organisation was deeply concerned by the farm attacks in the province.
“We have repeatedly called on the Minister of Police to prioritise these cases, just like he prioritises other crimes such as cash-in-transit cases. It is imperative that the police force develops a strategy to combat these crimes.”
Madlala said that swift justice with harsh sentences handed down to the perpetrators would be a deterrent.
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