This is according to the Free State provincial commissioner, Moeketsi Sempe,  on Friday 19 July 2019, during a media briefing at Glen Agricultural College outside Bloemfontein. Sempe says cattle were stolen but were later recovered and a suspect was arrested with the help of a shepherd on that farm. The commissioner and the MEC for Police, Roads and Transport, Sam Mashinini, were handing over a fleet of 48 new vehicles to different rural safety policing clusters with the hope of combating farm murders. Sempe says the police are working hard to ensure that there are effective and efficient policing in those areas.

Mashinini lauded the relationship between stakeholders, which includes residents in rural areas and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). This after the provincial commissioner Sempe, on Friday, announced that significant arrests were made in a short space of time with the assistance of these said stakeholders. Mashinini says his department has no time to waste and they will continue to make sure that all the perpetrators who are continuing with their heinous crimes against farm owners and workers will feel the pinch of the police.

Mashinini was under fire earlier this week during the tabling of his 2019/20 fiscal year budget, with opposition parties in the Provincial Legislature demanding answers as to how he plans to deal with safety issues faced by farm dwellers and those in rural areas. Speaking ahead of the handover of these vehicles at the Glen College of Agriculture, Mashinini told OFM News that he will ensure that the safety of people in the province, particularly those in remote areas, is prioritised and that the police are adequately resourced to carry out their duties. He further stated that they will be tightening work relations with the neighbouring country of Lesotho as their investigations have revealed that some stolen property from farms is smuggled to Lesotho.

OFM News