Farm attacks.
Regular farm attacks.
Farm attacks accompanied by murders.
These attacks are brutal, affecting farmers AND farm workers. Most of these victims are white but it is by no means limited to one race. For this post I will focus on the white farmers, the majority of victims.
Why are white farmers in particular being attacked in such large numbers?
The data in the above link sites theft and intimidation as the main reasons for these attacks. Note that the data goes back decades, so this is not a new problem, we just hear more about it now thanks to social media and the internet.
Our political leaders fill the minds of the black population of South Africa with ideas that the white man stole the land they now propagate from black peoples. They plant the seed that the black population has a right to this land, for the sake of retribution. The land expropriation act is the curtain behind which this propaganda is hidden from the world. Land expropriation, on the face of things, has very good intentions; but the manner of execution is very flawed. I will discuss this in a later post. Back to the political leaders. One such influential leader is Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Front. His views are extremely communistic. Communism has been shown to never act in the good of the governed, but those without access to all sides of the story only hear of the “benefits” of communism. He has told his followers (comrades) that white people have all the privilege, all the wealth and all the happiness as overlords of the black population due to the legacy of apartheid. Below are just a few of the things Mr Malema has told his comrades.
Julius Malema (former ANC youth leader, leader of the EFF)
- true freedom is having white people work for black people (source). He claims to not want whites killed but then suggests that a fight is coming, as when his forefathers were defeated by white “bastards”. Do not misunderstand me, most white people do not have issue with working for black people, we cannot grow our economy or promote equality without such arrangements.
- black people should not kill Nigerians or Zimbabweans (xenophobia) because it is really the white man who committed genocide against black men (source). Implying what? Black men should rather kill white men? How about not killing anyone?
- “Shoot the Boer” (source), while claiming no white farmers are being killed (source). This source says otherwise.
- called for action against various political commentators to “attend to them decisively” (source).
- “we are not calling for the slaughter of white people…at least for now” (source).
- shared the Mugabe quote “The only white man you can trust is a dead white man” on social media (source)
Every murder is abominable. Every death is a tragedy. Where is this headed? What is the end goal? Methinks nothing productive.
In general, farmers in South Africa don’t farm for profit primarily, they farm because they love it. The love to wake before the sun is up to tend to their livestock, they love harvesting and seeing the fruits of their labour. They love to work hard! They do not sit on their farms reveling in the idea that they have stolen land from anyone. They ponder their expenses and the sacrifices they have made to get to where they are now. A vast majority of farms are in fact NOT inherited, at least not over centuries as is portrayed in the media. Farmers have purchased the land, not only hundreds of years ago but in the last few decades. Expropriation takes this land from them, with or without compensation as decided by the courts, and typically hands it over to people who do not know the first thing about agriculture. The land is then laid to waste, ruined, requiring years to rehabilitate.
As a realistic and logical person, I can see the merits of land reform and expropriation. However, what is required is fair compensation to the farmers (who likely have debt related to the purchase of the property) and an agreement that the farmer will teach the new land owner to propagate the land productively. Seems fair, right?
Backtracking a bit, farmers should NOT be targeted because current political leaders tell their constituents that they farmers occupy land that belongs to the “indigenous” peoples, leading to ideas that this must be rectified by force.
The people of South Africa should instead come together to tackle the REAL threat to our country: the rampant corruption within our government.
