Section II contains the results of the research undertaken to evaluate the functioning of the rural protection plan in four areas in three of the provinces most subjected to attacks and murders on farms and smallholdings: the Piet Retief area in Mpumalanga (chapter 5); the Greytown and Ixopo areas in KwaZulu-Natal (chapters 6 and 7); and the Wierdabrug area in Gauteng (chapter 8).

Apart from the myriad problems with the rural protection plan that were identified by the research, three main points emerge which are crucial to the plan’s success (chapter 9):

• The high participation of farmers in the security cell system leads to an excellent rapid reaction capability.
  
  
• The presence of a strong provincial agricultural union, as well as an army group willing to play a role in mediating and resolving conflict contributes strongly to the plan’s success.
  
  
• The effective co-ordination of the various security agencies and their responses is crucial to the plan’s effectiveness in addressing attacks on farms and smallholdings.

Recommendations (chapter 10) are made in this section with regard to a number of issues that were identified as problematic. These include, among others:

• publicity to ensure that farmers and smallholders are adequately informed about the rural protection plan;
  
  
• improvements in terms of intelligence and detective work;
  
  
• better screening of potential farm and smallholding employees;
  
  
• the involvement of farm and smallholding employees in security structures;
  
  
• a devolution of responsibility from government to include roleplayers on the ground; and
  
  
• the identification of local solutions to local problems.