Violent crime on farms and smallholdings in South Africa

More detailed police data is needed, but available statistics show that farm attack trends correspond with increases in house robbery.

Farm attacks and farm murders are a contentious topic in South Africa. Claims have been made that the criminal attacks on farms are a deliberate form of white – specifically Afrikaner – genocide. But are farm dwellers and particularly white Afrikaans farmers the target? Or are these crimes part of a bigger picture of escalating brutal violence countrywide? Are statistics accessible and accurate so as to paint a true landscape of violent crime in rural South Africa?

About the Author

Dr Johan Burger joined the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in 2006 and is currently a consultant with the ISS Justice and Violence Prevention Programme in Pretoria. He served in the South African Police Service for 36 years, and retired as a major general and head of operational coordination. He has an MA in strategic studies and a DTech in policing.

Picture: Willem Els/ISS