This comes after police minister Bheki Cele, national police commissioner, Khehla Sitole and his team presented the country's crime statistics to Parliament's Police Portfolio Committee on Thursday. During the briefing the head of police crime research and statistics, Norman Sekhukhune, revealed  stock theft increased by 2,9% over the course of 2018/19. It is the biggest increase in the property-related crimes category, a category that saw a 2,5% decline overall, making stock theft the rotten apple in the bunch. Sekhukhune says the increase in stock theft needs to be addressed urgently.

AND

Black family farmers are struggling to farm profitably and sustainably and are in need of serious adjustments to the policy environment to be successful. This is according to Theo de Jager, board chairperson of the Southern African Agri Initiative, Saai, who attended a farmer's day at The Hub in Tzaneen in Limpopo, yesterday. De Jager said few black farmers get access to financing because they often don’t own the land on which they farm. The state was last week forced to sell a farm in Limpopo on which David Rakgase had been farming for 27 years, to Rakgase. According to De Jager, investments in agriculture will cease to grow without the broadening of property rights. He also referred to poor research on determining the validity of land claims, infighting among the communal property associations (CPA’s) and poor management of state land which he calls setbacks on the road to success. 

OFM News/Olebogeng Motse and Christal-Lize Muller