– Limpopo farming communities are under siege from rampant and unchecked criminality
– SAPS and the ANC-led Provincial Executive are failing to protect rural communities, leaving farmers increasingly forced to secure themselves and their livelihoods.
– The DA calls for a committed and coordinated rural safety response, stronger policing, and decisive action against organised criminal syndicates.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo shares the growing alarm of farming communities at the escalation of unchecked rural crime and the continued unresponsiveness and lack of meaningful action by the South African Police Service (SAPS), and will write to Agricultural and Rural Development MEC, Nakedi Kekane, and Transport and Community Safety MEC, Violet Mathye, to urgently address this crisis with the Provincial Executive and relevant policing and security structures.
The DA remains concerned by the failure of Limpopo’s ANC-led Provincial Executive to exercise effective oversight over policing and community safety particularly in our farming and rural areas rural. They cannot continue to turn a blind eye while farming and rural communities are left to fend for themselves and lose confidence in the ability of SAPS and other law-enforcement authorities to protect them.
In this policing vacuum, some farmers are being forced to ensure their own safety and security and have resorted to “negotiating” with criminals to protect themselves, whilst having no alternative but to “allow” criminals to trespass and continue with their illicit activities.
Recent media reports confirm that these concerns are neither isolated nor exaggerated. In Tzaneen, avocado farmers have reported operating at a loss as theft syndicates target orchards, forcing some to spend hundreds of thousands of rand annually on private security. Livestock farmers in Ga-Mashashane, Molemole and Blouberg have similarly reported escalating stock theft, with animals stolen or slaughtered and farmers left to absorb the losses.
Farming communities are also reporting cable and copper theft, the theft of irrigation pivot motors and other farm infrastructure, and livestock and crop theft. The crisis is compounded by rampant illegal gold, chrome, and sand mining, often carried out by organised and heavily armed groups with little visible consequence.
Cross-border syndicates and weak border enforcement further aggravate the situation. Limpopo’s borders with Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana have become corridors for the illegal movement of livestock, stock theft, vehicle and cigarette smuggling, stolen goods and other organised illicit activity.
These crimes disrupt food production, damage critical infrastructure, undermine water availability and quality, weaken rural economies, and threaten agricultural livelihoods and rural communities. The uncontrolled cross-border movement of livestock also increases the risk of introducing and spreading Foot and Mouth Disease.
Limpopo needs a committed and coordinated rural safety response, visible and properly resourced policing, strong action against organised crime and syndicates, improved border policing, and clear accountability from SAPS leadership and the Provincial Government.