This as officials of the commission, farmers, and SAPS, amongst others, met on Thursday 22 October to discuss most pertinent issues which have since rocked the small farming town of Paul Roux following the murder of farm manager Brendin Horner (21).

The commission’s spokesperson, Thabang Kheswa, says politicians should exercise the highest level of responsibility when addressing some of these issues with their supporters.  Kheswa says these leaders need to be careful about their message.

Meanwhile, while handing down his judgment on the bail application of murder accused Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletse, Magistrate Deon van Rooyen said Horner’s murder case exposed deep racial divisions, economic disparities, and mistrust of the justice system of the police.

“Already we know that there are racial tensions in South Africa but we want to improve those relations. So some of the utterances should be cautious and careful because we need to promote social cohesion and not dividing the already divided society that we are having. So as the Human Rights Commission we would like to plead with political leaders to try and exercise responsibility when addressing issues like these,” he adds.

On Tuesday 6 October, protesters stormed the Senekal Magistrate's Court and damaged property. They demanded that Horner’s alleged killers be handed to them.

Following the scenes, farmers in the Free State voiced their concerns with farm attacks and stock theft amongst others. They also detailed their plight to the Security Cluster Ministers, including Bheki Cele and Ayanda Dlodlo, about stock theft, murders, and the ineffective responses from the government.

Chairperson of the Bethlehem Agriculture Union and Security, Herkie Viljoen, said farmers in the area of the Eastern Free State around Bethlehem loses over R1 million to stock theft every month. Viljoen said farmers have since been waiting for a response since 2019 following a report which was sent to Pretoria, meant for Cele and other ministers. Viljoen told Cele and Dlodlo that government cannot continue to overlook the plight of farmers.

Meanwhile, the Civil Rights Organisation AfriForum's Ernest Roets mentioned that the reaction of farmers was as a result of the failure by the government to intervene and act against farm murders. He mentioned that the farmers have had enough with farm murders and the slacking of the government's efforts to quell these murders across the country.

Roets told OFM News that the people are angry and very sad at the same time because they regard what happened to Horner as something that might happen to them. He added that the people further regarded the brutal murder of Horner as an attack on their community. Roets further slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa and police minister Bheki Cele over the farm murders happening across the country.

OFM News