They spoke on the size of the SAPS command structure in comparison to the little manpower available at grassroots level to protect citizens in rural areas. According to a statement by Free State Agriculture's Chairperson of its Rural Safety Committee, Jakkals le Roux, farmers and South African citizens who form the core of rural economies deserve honest, protective and professional police services. He adds that the recruitment of adequate officers and appointments to positions where command and control are applied are underlying the endemic problem of policing. He says that the government is called upon to document their agendas and put forward the interests and security of citizens so as to provide the police with the necessary manpower, equipment, funds, and leadership to protect citizens from grassroots levels and up.

OFM News spoke to Bloem Veeprodukte about the impact the recent looting and veld fires have had on their sustainability of providing products. Manager of Bloem Veeprodukte, Yvette Marais, tells OFM News that the unrest caused an immense amount of delays in stock availability and the supply of all animal vaccines to farmers in Central SA. She says that some of the factories that supply animal products and vaccines were completely destroyed as a result of the looting and unrest which has an impact on their stock availability. Marais adds that regardless of the delays in stock availability, they were still able to supply many animals who suffer after the Free State veld fires with medicine.

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Agri workers lined up to receive their Covid-19 jabs in Wellington, Western Cape. Speaking to OFM News, the agricultural department’s spokesperson, Daniel Johnson, says the department recently visited one of the Covid-19 vaccination facilities at the Satellite Health Facility at Bovlei Farm where more than 300  agri workers lined up for their Covid-19 jabs. He says that the Western Cape Health Department, Cape Winelands District Municipality, and the health workers and all the departments who joined hands were thanked for working diligently to ensure that the vaccination session was a success. Johnson says that it is imperative that agri workers are continually encouraged to get vaccinated.

OFM News/Lee Simmons