Question NW2738 to the Minister of Police
09 January 2017 - NW2738
Steyn, Ms A to ask the Minister of Police
(1)Whether the SA Police Service (SAPS) keeps farm murder statistics as a separate category in its records; if not, why not; if so, how many farm murders were recorded in the (a) 2015 and (b) 2016 calendar years to date; (2) whether the SAPS’ Rural Safety Plan has been implemented in full; if not, (a) why not and (b) by what date will the specified plan be implemented in full; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1) The South African Police Service (SAPS) keeps figures of incidents of violence on farms and smallholdings per financial year, based on a manual system, for operational purposes.
(1)(a) A total of 60 murders on farms and smallholdings were reported during the 2014/2015 financial year.
(1)(b) A total of 49 murders on farms and smallholdings were reported during the 2015/2016 financial year.
(2) The Rural Safety Strategy has not been implemented in full at all identified rural and rural/urban police stations.
(2)(a) The annual target for the implementation of the Rural Safety Strategy in the Annual Performance Plan for 2016/2017 of the SAPS is that 759 of the 879 identified rural and rural/urban mix police stations must implement the Rural Safety Strategy by 31 March 2017. At the end of the second quarter of the 2016/2017 financial year a total of 783 rural and rural/urban police stations had already implemented the Strategy. This means that the target was exceeded by 24 police stations.
(2)(b) The implementation of the Rural Safety Strategy is part of the Annual Performance Plan of the SAPS and the target for 2017/2018 has not been finalised.