Police minister Senzo Mchunu has challenged AfriForum to provide evidence of its claims that the recently released third quarter crime statistics about farm murders were inaccurate. This comes after the lobby group disputed the statistics, which indicated that only one farmer, who happened to be white, was murdered between 1 October and 31 December 2024.

TWELVE FARM MURDERS RECORDED, WITH ONLY ONE BEING A FARMER

Releasing the statistics last week, Mchunu indicated that there were 12 recorded farm murders during the final three months of 2024. Among the victims, five were farm dwellers, four were employees, and one was a farmer. These incidents were part of a total of 6,953 murders documented in the same timeframe, which included 1,453 deaths resulting from arguments, 389 due to mob justice, 57 associated with taxi violence, 1,405 related to robbery, and 294 gang-related killings. In response to AfriForum's comments following the release of the crime statistics, Minister Mchunu acknowledged the feedback from various sectors, including AfriForum. He stated: "One of the comments came from Afriforum as they were preparing for their trip to America; they made a claim that they are disputing the released quarterly crime statistics, stating that a total of five farm owners had been murdered during this period. One of the decent things that any organisation worth its salt or any decent individual would do is to put their case on the table so that everybody can appreciate your facts and thoughts," he said. Mchunu emphasiesd that any claims of dispute would be taken seriously by the SAPS.

PROVIDE EVIDENCE

Mchunu has called on AfriForum to present evidence regarding their claims of farm murders."We appeal to the South African public to desist from assumptions that belong to the past, where farm murders were the same as murders of white farmers. Afriforum's dispute smirks of their feeling to take an 'Orwellian' approach to this subject, wherein there must always be a picture of high numbers of murders of white farmers, as was the practice in the past," Mchunu said, reiterating the statistics showing that one farmer, who happens to be white, was murdered in the third quarter in South Africa. "Anybody who disputes this is welcome to put facts on the table for correct records."