DA launches unit to help secure convictions in farm attack cases

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has launched a nation-wide court watching briefs unit as a means to put farm attackers behind bars.

Members of the watching briefs unit will attend court cases to observe the procedures and report on any police inefficiencies.

The unit will act as an unofficial go-between between the police, the prosecution services, and the victims of farm attacks to help facilitate convictions.

The watching briefs initiative was first introduced by the Department of Community Safety in the DA-led Western Cape in a bid to improve justice.

The DA's shadow minister of state security Dianne Kohler-Barnard says the situation in South Africa's rural areas is beyond urgent, with a sharp rise in farm attacks and murders in June.

RELATED: 'It is swept aside and never reported on' - DA MP Kohler-Barnard on farm attacks

A pregnant mother was brutally murdered on a farm in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday. She had her throat slit.

Kohler-Barnard claims she's seen a growing trend of torturous farm attacks since taking over the security portfolio.

She says there are poor police resources in many of the rural areas in which these attacks take place.

According to Kohler-Barnard, farm attacks affect all ages, races and ages. "It's indiscriminate", she says.

She says these attacks need urgent national attention and claims the media have put farm attacks on the back burner.

There are more and more attacks all over the country where the attackers torture [victims], sometimes for hours and days, and take nothing.

Dianne Kohler-Barnard, Shadow Minister for State Security - DA

These attacks have increased over the lockdown... from April, May, June. Up to June, there were 56 attacks and seven murders.

Dianne Kohler-Barnard, Shadow Minister for State Security - DA

Listen to the DA MP in conversation with Kieno Kammies:

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