Provincial Safety Summit should not be a paper exercise, asks FSA

The Provincial Safety Summit presented by the SAPS in Bloemfontein on 28 and 29 August 2024 should not just be a paper exercise, requests Free State Agriculture (FSA).

FSA, together with all government departments that have an interest in agriculture as well as all organized agricultural organisations, attended the summit. Both the MEC of Community Safety, Roads and Transport as well as the MEC of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs were also involved.

Jakkals le Roux, chairman of FSA’s Rural Safety committee, confirms that challenges identified by the core organizations and departments were discussed in five commissions, where concrete proposals and action steps were given on how they should be addressed and by which departments. He further mentions that the following shortcomings were identified during the summit:

• The effective implementation of the National Rural Safety Strategy;

• Clearly assigned job allocation of Rural Safety coordinators;

• The establishment of reservists as a force multiplier and rural safety units

• Shortages at Livestock Theft Units; crime problems at the RSA/Lesotho border;

• The lack and change of relevant legislation that is missing, for example the Pounds Act;

• The regulation and lack of control at common lands under municipal control.

Le Roux confirms that the SAPS and SANDF have already been requested to escalate critical deficiencies to national level, while the MEC will also highlight certain aspects at ministerial level.

Le Roux expressed his hope that the summit will not just be a paper exercise, but that practical implementation and action steps will lead to an improvement in rural safety of farming communities.