The provincial police spokesperson, Thandi Mbambo, tells OFM News that no-one has been arrested for the murder of the family so far after their bodies were discovered by a traditional healer on Saturday 7 August. The traditional healer made the discovery after allegedly having made an appointment with the family. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the police. Meanwhile, in a separate farm attack, five suspects are expected to appear before the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court for the possession of suspected stolen property and the Harrismith Magistrate’s Court for house robbery. This comes after the suspects were arrested by Harrismith and Ladysmith police, shortly after a farm attack in the Harrismith district on Monday 16 August.

The Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development welcomes the decision by the Free State High Court to dismiss the application brought by the DA to have the beneficiaries of the Vrede Dairy appointed and verified. According to the department's spokesperson, Zimasa Leputla, the application was dismissed with costs on Thursday 19 August 2021 by Judge Danita de Kock, on the grounds that there is an existing court order that sufficiently deals with the matter. Leputla says that the department had long held a view that the DA's application to the court did not hold water and was a little too late.

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Fruit and vegetable farmers, particularly those who paid Product Control for Agriculture (ProKon) for inspection services since 2017, should demand refunds. This is according to BJ van Zyl, director at ZZ2 and chairperson of the Tomato Producers’ Organisation (TPO). He responded to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein, upholding an appeal with costs in favour of ZZ2 as well as the Northern Onion Committee, against the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, among others. Farmer's Weekly editor, Denine Erasmus says that around 2017, ProKon was appointed by the department as an assignee, and the company was able to conduct inspections within the fruit and vegetable sector on farms, in storage facilities, as well as fresh produce markets.

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