By Suzanne Venter
Five years after the murder of the 21-year-old farm manager, Brendin Horner, in the Senekal district, which deepened the divide between law enforcement and farmers who continue to suffer from livestock theft, promises about a task force remain unfulfilled, and two of the five murder suspects are reportedly still stealing.
Nothing ever came of the special task force that was supposedly going to investigate police corruption and livestock theft syndicates in the Eastern Free State. It has been nearly five years since the then Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, addressed farmers in the Thabo Mofutsanyana district (Paul Roux, Senekal, and Bethlehem) following the murder of Brendin Horner.
Livestock thieves presumably murdered Horner in October 2020 after he allegedly tried to catch them. Following the murder, Cele promised that a special task force would be formed to investigate serious allegations regarding livestock theft and crime in the area, particularly claims of police involvement in livestock theft.
“Nothing has also come of the Hawks’ investigation following Horner’s murder regarding syndicates presumably involved in livestock theft. This, after a report was handed over to Cele in Bethlehem in 2020,” says Dr Jane Buys, a security risk analyst for Free State Agriculture.
On April 5 this year, Landbou.com, African Farming’s sister publication, reported that farmers from the Thabo Mofutsanyana district are dissatisfied because at least two of the five murder suspects continue to steal in the area. Additionally, there is still no progress in the investigation into Horner’s murder.
Jabu Mbalula, the Free State MEC for community safety, roads, and transport, recently stated in the Free State legislature that the Horner case is closed until new information is received. Mbalula was responding to a written inquiry from Dr. Roy Jankielsohn, the leader of the DA in the Free State.
Horner’s brother, Basjan, who works for a sheep farmer in the area, says it is disturbing for him and his parents, Robbie and Mietjie, who are still struggling to process the murder.
Biggest problem in the northeastern Free State
“The police simply do nothing. About two months ago, on a Sunday morning, we caught around 35 dogs with people hunting illegally on the farm where I work. Our security people helped. The police arrived two hours later. We filed cases for illegal trespassing and hunting without permits. Nothing came of it. It’s as if we no longer have a police force,” says Horner.
Another farmer in the vicinity of Paul Roux and Bethlehem, who wishes to remain anonymous, reports that he has livestock theft cases against one of the suspects in the murder of Brendin Horner dating back to 2010, “but he is not stopped and continues to steal undisturbed.”
Danie Bruwer farms sheep, cattle, and cash crops on Kaallaagte, Paul Roux, and he says he regularly suffers from two of the murder suspects who are still at large.
“Everyone in the area suffers. We have caught the two with stolen livestock, but when they go to court, they receive bail and are released to steal again.”
According to Bruwer, the two suspects are part of a group known as the Big Five, which regularly commits crimes in the area. The most significant problems occur in the northeastern Free State, which, in addition to Paul Roux and Bethlehem, includes districts such as Kestell, Clarens, Fouriesburg, Harrismith, and Arlington.
“According to the information the police give us at our monthly Stic (stock theft intelligence and centre) meetings held by local security groups in cooperation with the police, we’re looking at a monthly loss of approximately R3 million,” says Bruwer.
Buys says that according to the police’s statistics, the Thabo Mofutsanyana district has the most reported livestock theft cases in the Free State.
“It varies quarterly and annually from 36.65% to 45.49%. It’s important to consider that this only includes cases reported to the police. Many cases are no longer reported because farmers (like Horner) say the police do nothing to investigate the cases.”
According to Buys, farmers have lost trust in the police and no longer want to report cases. She says Free State Agriculture is also aware that approximately 30% of the farming communities in the Free State are currently raising allegations that police members may be involved in crime or certain syndicates.
“It is also alleged that it is not just non-commissioned officers, but officers and even senior officers who are presumably involved in crime.
“Certain information has been passed on to high-ranking police officers, who themselves are not sure which police members they can trust with the information,” says Buys.
Bruwer says that this mirrors their own experiences and that the trust between the police and the community has been damaged. “Emerging farmers in the informal settlement complain at our farmer meetings and say that when they report livestock theft cases, the police no longer respond or come out to open a case,” says Bruwer.
At all the meetings he attends with other farmers in the area, the same problems concerning the local police are repeatedly highlighted.
Lack of dedication and training
“It’s as if the police are unwilling to get to the core of crime cases and problems and solve them. For example, once stolen livestock is recovered, cases are closed and not investigated further. It is mostly the farmers themselves who recover the livestock or some of it.”
The police response time following a possible theft or other issues is too lengthy. “Often the police show up hours or even days after the crime was committed, and sometimes not at all.”
“On Christmas Day last year, eleven sheep were stolen from one of my neighbours. We reported the theft and started searching. The police never showed up, and we found the sheep ourselves. At the scene, I found a receipt from purchases at a shop in the area and told the police to get it, as it could help them catch the perpetrators, but it never happened. I’ve already taken it to them, but they’re uninterested.”
Furthermore, there is a lack of training and experience. “When the police show up at crime scenes, they don’t know how to secure the scene so that evidence like footprints is preserved. They walk over the tracks and struggle to take proper statements.”
A lack of resources is an open secret, and police officers may, for example, arrive at a crime scene in darkness without flashlights. “Sometimes they don’t have radios or equipment to take fingerprints.”
The police members are not always certain how their structures operate and whom they should consult further regarding problems or cases. “We also find that there is no cooperation between departments in the police.”
Light sentences
Eduard Marais, security coordinator of the Bethlehem district agricultural union, says they established Stic in 2023. It helps that they now have more statistics showing the situation and that cooperation with the police is slowly improving.
“What we urgently need is cooperation from the national prosecuting authority. The biggest problem currently is that offenders are repeatedly arrested for the same crime and then released on bail again and again.
“About five years ago, my farm watch members and I helped a black farmer from the area search for eight of his stolen cattle. We caught the perpetrator while he was with the stolen cattle in the veld,” says Marais.
“While the suspect was awaiting trial for the case, which only came to court three years after the incident, he was caught again for a similar theft at Kestell.
In the end, he got away scot-free, and this happens repeatedly. Guys are caught and receive a suspended sentence or a fine. Then they are apprehended again and simply pay the fine for the previous suspended sentence and steal again.
Marais says all the farmers in the area are fed up with the situation, and it is urgently necessary for a higher authority to intervene and see what is going on there.
* Inquiries were directed to the South African Police Service, but there was no response by press time.
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