STOP THE WAR ON OUR FOOD

The ripple effect of violence in our rural communities not only hurts the farmers and farmworkers, but also each and every South African. When an agriculture producer gets murdered production processes on the farm very often come to a complete halt, and that impacts food production. Who will feed our nation when there are no more farmers to work the land? 

The South African Police Service (SAPS) Rural Safety Strategy has been a dismal failure. Police stations in the most hard-hit rural areas are understaffed and under-resourced. SAPS is increasingly unable to protect our rural communities.

Each farmer, farmworker (and their loved ones) deserve to be protected from harm.

We urgently need the following interventions:

• Rural Safety Units must be reintroduced and properly resourced;
• Innovation in new technology such as surveillance drones, ShotSpotter and geofencing must be explored as a matter of urgency;
• SAPS must declare rural crime a priority, and keep separate and accurate statistics so that the success or failure of interventions can be measured;
• The Reservist Programme in farm areas must be properly implemented with a concerted effort to recruit and train framers, farmworkers and farm dwellers;
• Increased access to health, social support and education must be ensured for farmworkers and dwellers. This is a fundamental human rights issue.

Sign our petition calling on the President to act now and stop the war on our food!