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Crosses for the white farmers killed. FWM
Pretoria

The true facts about land and farm murders in South Africa

The American president's tweet about the land grabs in South Africa, expressed a justified concern about events unfolding. Those who doubt the veracity of Donald Trump's tweet should familiarize themselves with the facts about farm murders and the threat to property rights in the country.

Published: August 26, 2018, 5:56 am

    The number of farm murders in South Africa have not decreased as some sources claim. Agricultural Union TAU SA’s farm killings statistics – which contain verifiable victim names, farms and dates of murder – confirmed last year that killings were now at the highest level in 13 years.

    A well-grounded analysis by PoliticsWeb of official SAPS statistics further indicates that claims by AgriSA pretending that farm murders were decreasing, showed serious weaknesses.

    The farm murder rate may seem lower than 20 years ago, but the number of commercial farmers has almost halved over the same period, actually signalling an increase in the rate.

    A white South African farmer’s chance of being killed is estimated to be 3.2 times higher than the country’s already excessively high average murder rate. It only confirms that farm murders are a serious crisis facing the country that needs urgent attention. The horrific torture that often accompanies farm murders also raises serious questions.

    Farm murders remain a serious violation of human rights that should be condemned by governments worldwide especially by those who claim to believe in the protection of human rights.

    ANC supporters who argue that fears about the violation of property rights and expropriation without compensation in South Africa are exaggerated, ignore the fact that the South African president, the country’s government leaders and the ruling ANC have made rulings on numerous occasions that confirm that they are committed to violating property rights.

    There are numerous statements made by officials confirming the ANC’s vision:

    • In December 2017, the ANC officially decided at its congress to accept expropriation without compensation as party policy.
    • On March 27 this year, South African newspaper City Press reported that Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, said the government would not wait until the Constitution was amended and that her department had prepared a test case for a land grab. She has also indicated that her department has already identified the land they want to expropriate, but that she would not make public the list of farms because they would warn the owners concerned to prepare for legal action. The minister has never contested the content of this article and it is therefore accepted as the correct version of what she said.
    • On 31 July 2018, pres. Cyril Ramaphosa announced a late night statement on television that he and the ANC had decided to continue to amend the South African Constitution to allow expulsion without compensation. This announcement was the tenth time that Ramaphosa had expressed his support for expropriation without compensation in public. This announcement was made while the South African parliament’s open-ended consultation process had not yet been completed.
    • On August 5 this year another article appeared in City Press indicating that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform had identified 139 farms to be expropriated without compensation. Zizi Kodwa, member of the ANC’s national executive committee, was cited extensively in this article. The article’s content has not been contested by the ANC. On the same day, the weekly Sunday Times reported that the ANC, according to its party’s spokesman, Ronald Lamola, had identified 139 farms that would serve as “expropriation targets”.

    Victim of a farm attack. Photo supplied

    The ANC and government expropriation plans have a clear racial motive: David Mabuza, South Africa’s deputy president, said in Pretoria on April 6 this year that white farmers should volunteer to hand over their land in order to prevent a violent takeover.

    President Ramaphosa also declared publicly that land grab was necessary  for “his people”, meaning blacks only. Thus, the conclusion can be drawn that the president does not regard all people as part of his people. Zweli Mkhize, Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, ruled on July 7 this year that no black person or black group’s property will be confiscated, which gave a further racial dimension to government’s expropriation plans.

    The proposed expropriation process of a farm called Akkerland Boerdery in Limpopo, has begun with the owner being told to vacate his farm within seven days, as FWM reported.

    The government only offered the owner 10 percent of the land’s market value as compensation. Should this expropriation pass, it will in itself already constitute a serious violation of property rights.

    The ANC uses false statistics on land ownership patterns in South Africa to try to justify its violation of property rights, since it is not true that white farmers own 72 percent of land in South Africa.

    According to PoliticsWeb’s analysis, the figure is about 22 percent of South Africa’s total surface area.

    Some extracts from the book Kill the Boer by Ernst Roets, have shed light on the involvement of the black Marxist and EFF leader, Julius Malema in the killings of white farmers.

    In April 2010, Leon Koekemoer (39) was attacked on his farm near Cullinan in Gauteng [Chapter 15]. The attackers screamed the words: ‘Die, white man! Viva Malema!’ as they were attacking Koekemoer.

    In 2017, a copy of a conversation between a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) agent and a so-called general of the notorious prison gang, the 28s, was broadcast on the South African cable TV programme Carte Blanche.

    The gang leader had spent more than 20 years in prison for farm murders and was released in December this year. On the audio clip, he makes the following statement: “They also told me while I was on the inside that when I get out, I have to contact Julius Malema, the guy from Limpopo, from the EFF.

    “Because he was also here now in September. Julius Malema was in Pretoria, in New Lock [name of the prison]. When he got there, at New Lock, he asked, he said, when you gangs want a golden team, when you want a team, come and see me in Limpopo. I can give you a team.

    “What I will give you is a balaclava, a gun, and cash. He says straight that he is against the farmers, Julius Malema. He says you only have to murder a few farmers, on farms.”

    Malema was invited to respond, but his spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi only replied that he was unable to respond to these allegations, due to his busy schedule. The story soon faded away and there was no media outcry about his chilling words.

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