The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has noted media reports of the protest scene at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court in Free State today.
It is alleged that angry farmers want to avenge the brutal death of Mr Brendin Horner who was murdered last week by stock thieves. Today two men appeared in the Senekal Magistrate’s Court and the case has been remanded to 16 October 2020.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, appeals to the farming community to allow the law to take its course. The alleged perpetrators have been caught and we commend the South African Police Service for its swift action in bringing these men to court. We must allow justice to prevail and we cannot condone violence with violence, said the Chairperson.
We call on the farming community, farmers, farm workers and farm-dwellers to cooperate with the organs of state, the police, the criminal justice system and state security so that we can collectively respond to acts of crime and criminality.
The committee sends its condolences to the family and farming community of the late Brendin Horner. The committee will call for a special task team comprising of all the relevant government departments at national, provincial and district levels, law enforcement authorities and farming organisations to charter the way forward to find solutions to the ongoing criminal attacks on farmers and farm workers alike.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the Committee’s Media Officer:
Sureshinee Govender
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 2239
Cell: 081 704 1109
E-mail: sugovender@parliament.gov.za
