There were 277 attacks on farmers and farming communities last year, with 67 murders - the highest figure since 1990.
The Minister of Police has shown scant interest in the people who feed our nation other than making a vague comment on 8 August 2014, after a farmer, Ponty Thuynsma, was attacked and his body burnt on his farm in the east of Pretoria where another farmer had been murdered a month previously.
He said he would really look into ways of improving rural safety and policing. He said the South African Police Service, SAPS, will roll out another rural-safety strategy, as the previous strategies had failed dismally. We have been waiting for this new improved version for months. It will be tabled tomorrow, but this already speaks to lack of resources at rural police stations.
Minister, four days ago, a 72-year-old farmer and his 70-year-old wife, Toon and Rienie Swanepoel, were attacked on their farm near Bloemfontein. Three men tied them to a single bed and proceeded to take turns to rape Rienie while her husband was forced to watch.
He tried to fight back and they shot him in the leg. They then shot Toon dead, made Rienie lie on his body and then killed her too.
Our farmers and farm workers are being tortured to death. They are four times more likely to be murdered than the average South African, and it is far more dangerous to be a farmer than a police officer.
The number of commercial farmers has declined by over 50% since 1996. The farm statistics are quietly removed from the annual release of statistics in the hope that we won't notice how many farm murders there are.
Now the question is: Who will be feeding South Africa in a decade when this Minister is still fiddling with this latest version of his strategy? [Time expired.] [Applause.]