- Police must pay over R2 million after failing to stop a mob that destroyed a farmer’s property and slaughtered 90 game animals in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Officers ignored repeated warnings and did not intervene, despite being present during the attack.
- The court found police actions negligent, reaffirming their duty to protect life and property.
When a mob stormed the Kroonvrug farm in northern KwaZulu-Natal on 19 May 2015, setting machinery alight, razing crops, and slaughtering some 80 to 90 game animals, the police stood by and did nothing. Now, nearly a decade later, the KwaZulu Natal High Court in Durban has ruled that the Minister of Police must pay game farmer Arnold Fourie Raath over R2 million in damages for the catastrophic losses he suffered.
Justice MBS Masipa’s judgment, delivered on 16 September 2025, found that police officers at the scene failed in their constitutional and statutory duties to prevent the destruction despite repeated warnings from Raath and others that violence was imminent. The court held the police liable for both wrongful and negligent omissions, finding their passivity allowed the crowd to enter private property unlawfully and carry out the rampage unhindered.
Police ignored repeated warnings of an attack
Evidence before the court detailed how warnings were ignored and opportunities missed in the hours leading up to and during the attack. Early on the morning of 19 May, Raath alerted Hluhluwe Police Station commander, identified in the judgment as Colonel Ntuli at 6.20am that a group was gathering along his fence.
As the morning progressed and the mob grew, Raath phoned Ntuli several times to report the escalating situation. The mob then set a bulldozer on fire, destroyed pineapple fields, and began chasing and killing valuable antelope, including black impala, nyala, reedbuck, bushbuck, and red duiker.
Video footage showed dead cattle left on the farm from a prior incident, the bulldozer burning, public order police vehicles present, and people inside the game camp killing animals, while officers stood idle at the gate. Neighbouring farmers who tried to help were turned away by the police.
Ntuli admitted he knew the community was angry and that senior officials, including MEC Cyril Xaba, General Jula, and Brigadier Mbatha, planned to meet them on Raath’s farm that day, but he never consulted Raath or deployed available riot-control resources.
Omissions violated the constitutional duty to protect life and property
Judge Masipa held that the police’s omissions violated their statutory duty under section 13(3) of the SAPS Act and their constitutional mandate under section 205(3) of the Constitution to protect life and property and maintain public order. The harm, the court found, was foreseeable and preventable, and public order policing units with riot gear were on standby but were never used, and the plaintiff’s safety was never under threat while his animals were visibly being targeted.
Citing Carmichele v Minister of Safety and Security and Minister of Safety and Security v Van Duivenboden, the court emphasised that state officials cannot remain passive in the face of known threats. “When individuals’ lives and property are threatened, and when the police are forewarned and present, a failure to act undermines the Constitution itself,” the judgment stated.
The court found both factual and legal causation established and awarded Raath damages of R2 029 000 plus interest at 9% and costs on scale C.
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