New centres to fight farm murders: Heavy police presence in Senekal
- Command centres will soon be established to help rural areas and the farming community stay safe
- Farmers have long been calling for action in the face of farm murders, feeling that these centres will help hinder crime
- Meanwhile, police in Senekal ensured their presence was strong after the recent unrests
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The establishment of rural safety command centres has long been requested by farming communities in an attempt to curb crime.
A string of farm murders recently, in addition to the highly publicised unrest in Senekal, saw top police officials meeting with farmers.
The sector has been urging the government to protect citizens who work on farms and it seems to have gained them this agreement.
Source: UGC
However, agricultural unions say that there are indeed some requirements with Bennie van Zyl from TLU SA telling eNCA that:
“There’s a lot of things that has come to the table to create these command centres to address the issue of farm attacks."
In a statement on the meeting, SAPS spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo commented that:
“This will realise the integration of personnel and the use of helicopters and drones. These command centres will see the integrated approach to deal with criminality in the rural areas.”
In addition to this, police and agricultural unions will be meeting quarterly in a bid to find permanent solutions to end farm murders.
Meanwhile, TimesLIVE reports that a strong police presence was seen at the Senekal Magistrate's Court on Friday.
The farmer arrested for damage to public property in addition to public violence during the protest earlier this week.
The roads near the court were lined with police tape and nyalas awaited any unrest along the way.
The authorities took no chances with armed police patroling and even a police helicopter hovering nearby.
Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that the 52-year-old had been arrested after intense pressure for the community to be taken to task over the violence during the protest.
A police vehicle had been overturned and set alight during the unrest centring around the murder of Brendin Horner.
The two suspects accused of killing the young farm manager had been in holding cells and the community had demanded that the men should be handed over to them.
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Source: Briefly News
