Ntshavheni claims AfriForum agreed on farm murder stats – Kriel calls it a lie!

Ntshavheni

Cape Town – Lobby group AfriForum has accused Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, of providing false information regarding the organisation’s recent meeting with the South African Police Service (SAPS) about farm murder statistics.​

Minister Ntshavheni said that during the meeting, AfriForum conceded the accuracy of the crime statistics released by the Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu, including those pertaining to farm murders.

She emphasised that some farm murders are committed by individuals known to the victims, including family members.

“To prevent further misinformation, the South African Police Service met with AfriForum to clarify the allegations of white genocide with reference to farm murders.

“At the meeting, AfriForum conceded that the crime statistics as released by the Minister of Police are accurate, including on farm murders,” Ntshavheni said during a media briefing on Thursday.

“It is common knowledge that some of the farm murders are committed by people known to the farmers, including their own family members,” she added.

Contradicting this, AfriForum’s CEO, Kallie Kriel, labelled the minister’s claims as blatant lies. He asserted that AfriForum did not concede to the accuracy of the official crime statistics and had, in fact, presented their own data during the meeting.

Kriel expressed scepticism about the government’s honesty, suggesting that if they can misrepresent statistics, they might also misrepresent the discussions of the meeting. ​

“Why am I not surprised that the minister in the @PresidencyZA blatantly lied about what was said in @afriforum’s meeting with the police regarding farm murder statistics? The presidency lies about so many things, including farm murders, that it was therefore easy for them to lie about the meeting without blinking an eye,” he said.

AfriForum spokesperson Jacques Broodryk echoed this, saying that they disagreed with the police on multiple incidents and definitions of farm attacks and agreed to further discussions.

“I was in that meeting and AfriForum never once conceded that the minister’s stats were correct.

“In fact, we differed on quite a few of the stated farm attacks, whether they were farm attacks and whether they were not.

“We also had lengthy discussions about the definition of a farm attack as prescribed in the South African Police Service’s own rural safety strategy.

“And we agreed to have further discussions and to continuously discuss these topics and to have open communication channels,” Broodryk said in a video shared on social media.

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