Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has condemned the violent protest by farmers in Senekal in the Free State on Tuesday.
A group of farmers stormed the local magistrate’s court in which two suspects appeared briefly in connection with the murder of a farm manager.
In the video below, farmers in the Free State are calling for the return of the death penalty:
Preliminary reports indicate that a police vehicle was torched, court property damaged and gunshots fired during the incident.
The question here is Where are police and those rubber bullets they use on Black Community members. What happened to stung grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets that were used on students during Fees Must Fall protests. SA Government is scared of Whites. #tracyzille SAPS pic.twitter.com/xlWrPSeLVh
— Tracy Zille (@TracyZille) October 6, 2020
Lamola has called on law enforcement authorities to ensure that those responsible are brought to book.
The minister’s spokesperson Chrispin Phiri says the minister has also urged community members to allow the law to take its course.
“The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola condemns in the strongest possible terms the anarchic violence by protesters at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court in the Free State on Tuesday. The disturbing scenes of members of the public storming a court and damaging public property have no place in a free democratic South Africa. Yesterday’s actions are an inexcusable assault on the rule of law and criminal justice system,” adds Phiri.
Farmers in the Free State set this police vehicle on fire. They were demonstrating earlier at the court in Senekal where two men appeared following a farm murder. pic.twitter.com/042QjK9O0g
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) October 6, 2020
