Afriforum has hit back at the police for saying the attack on Vogelvallei Farm was “not a farm attack”.
Thomas van Dalen, head of Afriforum’s training division, said he strongly disagreed with Brigadier Donovan Heilbron’s statement that the incident at Vogelvallei Farm on Friday 13 January (page 3, Hermanus Times, 18 January 2023) was not a farm attack.
The owner of the farm was shot in the leg and one suspect was fatally wounded. The police arrested another suspect who has since appeared in the Caledon Magistrates’ Court on charges of attempted murder and trespassing. An inquest relating to the one suspect’s fatal shooting is also being investigated.
“In the article Brigadier [Donovan] Heilbron and Colonel [Joe] Hartnick are quoted as denying this incident was ever a farm attack. I differ categorically from them in this,” Van Dalen said. “I am seriously concerned about the way in which this incident is being downplayed as a mere case of ‘causing damage to infrastructure’.
“The SA Police Service’s own National Rural Safety Strategy defines a farm attack as (I quote from the national safety strategy itself) ‘an act of violence against a person or persons in the rural areas.
“For the purpose of reporting, acts of violence against person(s) living in rural areas, including farms and smallholdings, refers to acts aimed at person(s) residing in, or working in or visiting rural areas, whether with the intent to murder, rape, rob or inflict bodily harm.
“In addition, all acts of violence against the infrastructure and property in the rural community, which is aimed at disrupting farming or other commercial concerns, irrespective of whether the motives are related to the commission of other crimes, ideology, land disputes, land issues, revenge, grievances, racist concerns or intimidation, are included in this definition.
“Cases related to domestic violence or liquor abuse, or resulting from commonplace social interaction between people, are excluded from the definition.
“In the article Brigadier Heilbron is quoted as saying this action cannot be viewed as a farm attack because the intent of the perpetrator was seemingly ‘only’ to cause harm to infrastructure, and not to rob, injure, rape or murder residents. How does this modus operandi not fit into the definition quoted above?”
Van Dalen expressed concern that the gravity or importance of the incident was being downplayed.
“Is this another attempt to deny the fact that our farmers, and the country’s food security, are under attack? Are the police now attempting to suppress the reporting of farm attacks to support the President’s statement to the international community that farm attacks in South Africa don’t exist?
“I would like to know how it is at all possible for two senior police officers to misinterpret the quoted definition as per their own strategy document?”
Both Heilbron, Overberg Cluster Commander, and Colonel Joe Hartnick, head of detectives at Caledon Police Station, reiterated their stance that the incident was not a farm attack.
“Evidence found on the scene and preliminary investigations indicate the farm owners were not targeted with the aim of robbery, rape or murder,” Hartnick stated. “Therefore it is not deemed a farm attack, even though the incident occurred on a farm.
“There is no charge of a farm attack. It is usually classified as a house robbery, business robbery or armed robbery.
“In this case the charges are trespassing and attempted murder. The investigation continues and currently serves before the court.”
