22 July 2025 | 08:05 CAT
2-minute read

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) has come under fire for voting against a parliamentary report aimed at tackling farm attacks and rural crime in South Africa. The Democratic Alliance (DA), which backed the report, has labelled FF+’s opposition “short-sighted” and politically motivated.

The report, compiled by a joint committee of Parliament’s Agriculture and Police portfolios, addresses a petition on farm murders. It acknowledges the unique nature of farm attacks, characterised by brutality, and emphasises that all citizens are equal before the law. It also highlights the need for targeted oversight visits to agricultural areas, focusing on the “nature and extent of violence against farmworkers”.

For years, civil society organisations, agricultural unions and opposition MPs have decried what they saw as a lack of political will to address rural crime, especially violent attacks on farmers and farm workers. Until recently, the state’s position was ambivalent, with President Cyril Ramaphosa once controversially denying the existence of farm murders.

But this new report, backed by extensive deliberations and multiple evidence-based recommendations, not only acknowledges the existence of farm attacks but details their premeditated and brutal nature.

“Now, we’ve got two parliamentary committees… not only admitting that farm murders and farm attacks is a reality, they also admit the brutal nature thereof,” said Willie Aucamp, DA national spokesperson and Member of the National Assembly of South Africa.

Among the 14 recommendations in the report are the establishment of a specialised rural safety unit within the South African Police Service (SAPS), improved intelligence-sharing between law enforcement and farming communities, and audits of police capacity in rural regions. It also advocates for stronger cross-border crime prevention, particularly in hotspot areas such as the Free State-Lesotho border, and for improved coordination between SAPS and community leaders, including farm guards and traditional authorities.

One of the more contentious recommendations calls for oversight visits to farms to ensure that the rights of farm workers are being upheld. While the DA has defended this provision, stating that such oversight already exists in other forms, FF+ has rejected it outright, framing it as a potential “witch hunt” against farmers.

According to Aucamp, this rejection was not based on factual evidence, but on political posturing.

“In all the meetings that we’ve had on this farm murder report, the Freedom Front Plus, not one of the members once attended our meetings,” he said. “To come now afterwards and play cheap politicking because you want to get a hit on the DA… is just unacceptable.”

FF+’s vote against the report was also aligned with that of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party. However, the DA and its allies in the committee secured enough votes to adopt the report.

The challenge now lies in implementation. Rural communities continue to bear the brunt of poor policing, delayed response times, and cross-border criminal syndicates. Conviction rates remain low, due in part to weak coordination between investigators and prosecutors — another issue the report aims to address.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.