He says that the safety and security of farmers and the rural areas are extremely important to them and that will do everything they can to ensure the safety of farmers throughout the 2021 festive season.

“The biggest problem with stock theft is the amount of stock that gets stolen. [That is our concern.] We really have a serious problem. And our biggest problem is around the Thaba Nchu area,” says Ramokotjo.

He says that the small rural police stations are also from time to time affected by the alarming rate of stock theft that occurs. Ramokotjo says that regardless of the number of incidents that occur it’s the amount of stock theft that is of huge concern to the police force.

“However we are not sitting and wondering and feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve got rural safety coordinators in all the stations in the Mangaung Metro where there’s farming communities or rural areas. One thing that I can assure you is that every week, sometimes several days in a week, these guys are going out there together with the farmers, go out there with members of the community and they do what we call blue and white light patrols, in order to cap stock theft,” asserts Ramokotjo.

He concludes by reassuring farmers and stock owners that the police force in the Free State will protect and support them to the best of their abilities and that they have dedicated resources towards safeguarding the farmers and their stock.

OFM News/Lee Simmons