MEDIA STATEMENT
TAU - SA NORTH
PIETERSBURG REGIONAL OFFICE
DATE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2006
..........................................................................................................................................
PRELUDE TO FARM MURDER?
Mr Dries Joubert, Chairperson of TAU SA North, said that landowners north of the Soutpansberg mountain and in the Legkraal areas must be prepared for possible farm attacks and barbarous brutal murders.
LATES CLAIMS PUBLISHED
Almost all of the area north of the Soutpansberg mountain is now under claim. It is expected that further publication in the government gazette of the Legkraal area will follow within a few weeks. This immediately triggers a security alert. Mr Joubert warned landowners in these areas that farm attacks and barbarous brutal farm murders can now be expected.
MOTIF FOR BRUTALITY
The motif for the middle aged barbarous brutal way of murdering law abiding citizens is clear. It happened in many places. It is a method of intimidation and to scare landowners to accept any offer made by the government through the Land Claims Commission.
WHO GAINS THE MOST?
Mr Joubert said it is time to ask who can gain the most from landowners who prefer to sell and move away. As it happened in Levubu, it seems to happen in other regions in South Africa. The claim is published, crime seems to increase, brutal murder follows and then a group of landowners feel so unsafe that they became so called ‘willing sellers’.
WHY THIS MASSIVE INTIMIDATION IF ALL THE CLAIMS ARE VALID?
Why should brutal intimidation, barbarous murder, and alleged intimidation be necessary if all the claims are valid? TAU SA North repeatedly said that members will not oppose valid claims.
LATEST FARM ATTACK – GUNS ALREADY STOLEN
Mr Joubert said during the weekend of 16 September 2006 five guns were stolen in the Soekmekaar area. The person who survived the attack recognized the gun as the same gun stolen two weeks earlier from a neighbour. It seems as if the same pattern repeats as what happened in the Ledig – Louis Trichardt murder. He said if the SAPS would take this type of crime seriously, many senseless murders can be avoided.
GET YOUR SECURITY STRUCTURES IN PLACE AND FIGHT BACK
Mnr Joubert urged landowners in the Soutpansberg and Legkraal regions to get their security structures in place and to fight back. Criminals should not rob law abiding citizens of their right to live in their own country.
Mr Joubert said that organized agriculture will not sit back and alow barbarous criminals to take away their livelihood. The time has come for organized agriculture to make a stand against intimidation and murder.
.............................................
Mr F Du Toit
Chairperson: Communication