OPINION PIECE: Trespassing on farms: the challenges and solutions

Written by Theo de Jager

The excessively high crime statistics on farms, whether it is farm attacks, farm murders, theft, arson, poaching, or illegal hunting, are all rooted in one basic crime: unlawful trespassing on private property.

Farmers all over South Africa are at a loss with trespassing and complain that neither the police nor the National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) are taking this crime seriously. Action is seldomly taken against trespassers.

Trespassing is the unlawful presence of persons or cattle on private property, and farmers are especially vulnerable to unwelcome strangers who set foot on their farms. Trespasses do not only trespass: they will often linger or stay overnight; use water and electricity; fish or hunt illegally; steal livestock, harvests or metal; break in or attack the farm’s residents.

Farmers complain that trespassers have become very confident, because they know that no action will be taken against them. Even if a farmer can get the police to make an arrest, there are never successful prosecutions or sentences with a deterrent value.

When farmers take it upon themselves to act against trespassers, they often find that they themselves are the ones in the dock. If the state is unable to enforce legislation and maintain order, it leaves farmers vulnerable, discouraged and hopeless. They understand very well that the high crime rates for more serious crimes are not going to decrease, and that tensions with local communities will increase inevitably as long as the criminal justice system doesn’t take the trespassing crisis seriously.

The key question for farmers is more than simply “What is this stranger doing on my land?” The question is rather: “What it the extent of the damages I will have to face if I do not get these strangers to leave my farm and stay away?”

Saai has been confronted in the past few months by members whose tenants have cancelled their contracts because fences are being cut every night and cattle are herded into their grazing camps; game ranch members driven to bankruptcy by illegal hunting with dogs, traps, and poaching; as well as other members whose fruit and corn are being stolen by persons who are acquitted by the courts because a farmer cannot prove ownership of a bag full of produce. There are no consequences for the trespasser that is caught in possession thereof. No attempt to express the frustration of farmers in writing can do it justice.

This leads to incidents such as recently in Bethal during which a farmer, Jan Shabangu, shot and killed an illegal hunter on his farm. Numerous complaints to the police fell on deaf ears, until the frustration finally boiled over.

In September 2021 a farm owner of Glencoe in KZN, Garth Simpson, killed a trespasser, Qiniso Dlamini, when the latter tried to take his firearm from him during a scuffle. Dlamini and a group of trespassers were at a trough with their cattle on Simpson’s farm. The NPA’s bias was glaring in the refusal of bail, the delay of more than a month in providing Simpson’s legal team with an indictment and six months of detention before they decided based on the available evidence not to prosecute him. Farmers understand that despite legislation, the law is rather on the side of the trespassers.

For this reason, Saai has declared 2024/25 as a year against trespassing, and launched a comprehensive campaign for the relevant legislation to be better applied. The campaign involves several other partners as well and focuses in particular on more effective action and accountability by the police and the NPA.

The campaign consists of several actions, including:

1. PAIA applications against the Ministers of Police and Justice about how many cases of trespassing were reported and investigated, and how many suspects were arrested, charged, found guilty and sentenced.
2. an extensive effort to motivate farmers to report cases of trespassing to the police, and to inform Saai;
3. finding information – Saai is looking for more opportunities to file civil claims against the SAPS where they have failed to do their duty;
4. follow-up questions in parliament over the SAPS’s handling of complaints of trespassing, and pressure by political parties.

The campaign will develop in the future so that Saai can take hands with farmers to find more practical solutions to the problems caused by illegal entry. Saai’s entrance signs are one such example and an initiative was recently launched which aims to help farmers get an entrance sign for their farms, namely: Sponsor a sign, the farmer holds the fort (https://saai.org/borg-n-bord-the-boer-hold-the-fort/).

The success of the campaign depends on the participation of farmers in reporting cases. Without the availability of the data, proper pressure cannot be exerted on the state to take stricter action against persons guilty of trespassing.

Relevant Agribook pages include “Rural crime and farm safety“.

Image by Chris from Pixabay