By Johnathan Paoli
The International Relations and Cooperation Department has moved to “set the record straight” following the release of the 2024 US Human Rights Report, which raised alarm about the safety of rural and farming communities in South Africa.
It claimed that racial minorities, particularly Afrikaners, were facing systematic abuse.
In an updated response on Wednesday, the department leaned on official South African Police Service (SAPS) data covering rural safety during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year (1 January – 31 March 2025).
Six murders were reported. The victims included three farm employees, one farm dweller and two farmers.
“These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas. While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community,” department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said in a statement.
“These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas. While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community.”
The US State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, released earlier this month, flagged what it called “significant human rights issues” in South Africa.
These included unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and alleged failures to protect racial minorities.
It singled out farming communities, claiming that the government had not taken credible steps to investigate or prosecute inflammatory racial rhetoric and violence directed at Afrikaners and other minorities.
The report also pointed to debates around land expropriation without compensation, warning that such policies could exacerbate abuses against minorities.
Phiri emphasised that the government continued to roll out a “comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach” to rural safety, anchored in the National Rural Safety Strategy.
By the end of March 2025, 893 of the 900 identified rural police stations, representing 99%, had fully implemented the strategy.
The initiative prioritises police visibility, intelligence gathering and active engagement with local communities.
Key stakeholders in the programme include traditional leaders, commercial farming associations such as the African Farmers Association of SA, the National African Farmers’ Union, Agri-SA and the Transvaal Agricultural Union, as well as labour organisations like the Food and Allied Workers Union and advocacy groups representing farm workers’ rights.
Civil society organisations, including AfriForum, the SA Agricultural Research Institute and the campaign Stop Attacks and Farm Murders, are also part of the collaborative framework.
In addition to community involvement, government programmes are drawing on private sector capacity.
The Eyes and Ears initiative, coordinated with Business Against Crime South Africa, allows police to benefit from the logistical networks and surveillance technology of the private security industry.
The department stressed that South Africa remained committed to tackling crime transparently and cooperatively, rejecting what it viewed as external misrepresentations of its domestic challenges.
It added that its central focus remained on the safety and security of all South Africans, irrespective of race, and that it would continue to resist any attempt to portray crime trends as evidence of racial persecution.
By challenging the report, the department seeks not only to correct international perceptions but also to reinforce South Africa’s stance that its challenges with violent crime must not be conflated with racial hostility or human rights abuses.
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