An angry group of KZN sugar farmers frustrated by lack of police action have formed a vigilante group, effectively "taking the law into their own hands" to fight the criminals in the area. The farmers, who attended the launch-meeting armed with different kinds of firearms, unanimously agreed on Tuesday night "that we cannot afford a single farmer being killed and we have to send a clear message that we are tired of the police and we are forming a vigilante group to protect ourselves".
The 40 farmers protested that for many years they had co-operated with the police but the cases would always be thrown out of court "due to lack of sufficient evidence", even when the suspects were caught in the act."For far too long we have worked with the police but out of 10 cases not a single case was resolved. Even when we caught the suspects and called the police, they would promise to come but they never did," one farmer said. Farm owner and former councillor Manna Naidoo said their families were suffering attacks on an hourly basis. "On Saturday at 4.00am an armed robbery took place and the SAPS were called to the scene. While they were attending to that one, another report of hijacking was dispatched on our radio system. In that case the attacker's gun failed to go off and the farmer survived. "An hour later four armed men were seen breaking into a store; they were apprehended. On Saturday night my house was burgled and my safe broken with an angle grinder. Four of my priceless guns were stolen with lots of ammunition," he said.
Naidoo said last Thursday unknown men shot dead Lawrence Govender's wife. Govender was grazed by the bullet which killed his wife. He said their produce was stolen every day and the police could not cope with the spiralling crime in the north Durban area. "Now we must show with an example that we are not afraid to protect our people. We are starting patrols tonight. Even when police are not there we will fight them. When we arrest them we will take them to the kangaroo courts and what happens to them there, well we will cross that bridge when we get there," said one furious farmer with a pistol hanging on his shoulder.
Mondli Maseko, who works in Durban, took a day off from work to focus his attention on a strategy to fight criminals who repeatedly attacked them. The former Mayor of Verulam, Ramdhani Ram-barum, supported the decision of the farmers to form the vigilante group, saying it was clear that the farmers were angry and concerned about the safety of their lives. "But I want to caution you that this operation needs tight control and management and you must start planning tonight," he said. He warned that they should not go on a "killing spree" but should protect themselves because the police had shown that they had no capacity. Every farmer who spoke based his input on his personal experience of his involvement in fighting the criminals who seemed to know the movement of their victims.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Director Bala Naidoo said a lot had been done to help farmers. "We launched the rural safety programme which was working very well in certain areas. And those farmers must organise themselves into a farm watch," he said.
Source: IoL
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