A 65-year-old farm woman Kareen from Klerdorp in North West was attacked by unknown suspects while at a farm in Hartbeesfontein. The woman was allegedly raped and severely assaulted. Kareen was admitted to the hospital with severe injuries.
Phakamile Sitho from STOP FARM MURDER organisation says the suspects targets elderly women who are residing alone at the farms. Sitho says they want the police to intensify patrols around the farms at night.
Two weeks ago the solidarity group AfriForum disputed Police Minister Senzo Mcunu’s crime stats that indicated that there were only farm murders in the country in 2024,
Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s chief spokesperson for Community Safety says they had evidence that eight farmers were killed in 2024.
Broodryk claims that AfriForum’s claims suggest that the minister may either be misinformed or deliberately downplaying the scale of the farm murder crisis in South Africa.
Police minister Senzo Mchunu has refuted claims that they are downplaying the farm murder stats.
“We go to lengths, collecting and analysing information leading to the release of stats. We do our best.”
“We know we are benchmarking our stats using criteria that is acceptable in terms of standards. We also treat stats very seriously because this has to do with lives of South Africans.”
“When we get a response which says, ‘we are disputing the results’ that the South African Police Service has released: we need evidence to be put to us,” he said.
