Prevention
While the police are supposed to regularly visit commercial farms to ensure security, they claim they can't provide effective protection due to the wide areas that need to be covered and a lack of funding. The protection gap has been filled by 'Farmwatch' groups which link together by radio nearby farmers who can provide mutual assistance, local Commando volunteers, and private security companies. These forces are more likely to be able to respond rapidly to security alarms than widely-distributed police stations. The particular mix of groups that operate varies by area, with border zones continuing a strong history of Commando volunteers, while wealthier farmers are more likely to employ private security firms. The police and these groups are linked together as part of the Rural Protection Plan, created in 1997 by President Nelson Mandela. However, in 2003 the government began disbanding commando units, on the rationale that they had been "part of the apartheid state's security apparatus".
Afrikaners able to flee have been forced to migrate to countries they consider safer, such as England and Australia.
Read more about this topic: South African Farm Attacks
Famous quotes containing the word prevention:
“... if this world were anything near what it should be there would be no more need of a Book Week than there would be a of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)