While corruption at the heart of government is enough to make good men despair, the resurgence of racism and farm murders in South Africa intensifies the fear levels of all races. The new injection of race-hatred malevolence from Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and the resurrection of white extremism leads society into a new dilemma. There are a recorded 116 farm attacks and 27 farm deaths reported in the first half of this year. Farm murders are linked to racial hatred and idiocies from Malema, who advocates that all land belong to blacks.
The Limpopo province has experienced the most farm attacks this year, closely followed by Mpumalanga. The EFF and Malema have massive support bases in these regions, and the atrocities against humanity have become the order of the day. It is disheartening that there has never been a revelation of the true nature of the EFF political party. What Malema is doing to South Africa is tantamount to treason. Malema is destructive and careless and represents in every conceivable way what failure would look like for South Africa. The damage Malema has done will only get worse.
Malema is a poorly educated man, who mysteriously acquired lavish houses, a fleet of cars and a fortune, then rose to fame as the attack dog of President Jacob Zuma. Malema would threaten violence against anybody who sought to block Zuma from his rise to state president. When Zuma was elected president, Malema was in the pound seat. Now Zuma is the new enemy, and Malema will haul insults and attack the president in a political maneuver to gain votes. Malema utters buffoon politics mixed with crude populism and sinister racial demagoguery.
Malema openly professes a dislike for the children of colonialists. Often, he will say there is no hatred of white people, but there is hatred of the quality of whiteness. The farm murders in South Africa are blatant racist crimes which intensify the fear level which exists throughout the country.
Researcher Lorraine Claasen from AfriForum, the civil rights organization, said this year’s farm attacks appeared to be more violent in nature. The media have reported on the horrific ways innocent people are tortured before being murdered, and confirmation that the violence is now more aggressive is an indication of repressed hatred against whites.
Researcher Lorraine Claasen from AfriForum, the civil rights organization, said this year’s farm attacks appeared to be more violent in nature. The media have reported on the horrific ways innocent people are tortured before being murdered, and confirmation that the violence is now more aggressive is an indication of repressed hatred against whites.
It has been reported that none of the victims, who are usually tied up by the attackers who then gather information about the property, were children. Where arrests have been made, less than 24 percent have resulted in convictions. The low conviction count is confirmation that the South African government has not committed to ending the farm attacks. Farmers risk their lives to feed the nation, and the government does nothing to secure the food production.
The African National Congress (ANC) has lost its soul and does not consider the importance of feeding the nation. Farm attacks are not random; this is genocide and a protracted terror campaign aimed at removing white people from farms. Farm attacks are sanctioned by the ANC and EFF. President Zuma and the land redistribution rhetoric, coupled with Malema’s encouraging voters to occupy the land, will eventually force whites to be removed from the land through either murder, terror or violence.
Farm attacks are done slowly over a period of years and by doing so, do not attract attention from the international community. Every time a farm murder is splashed over the media, it does not draw attention to what is happening in South Africa – it is portrayed as another unfortunate crime. Nobody notices the slow genocide of the whites. The ANC and EFF have all the time in the world to cleanse South Africa of whites and are stepping up the attacks as the country tumbles into chaos.
Being a farmer in South Africa is the most dangerous job in the world. Where else in the world would a government ignore the alarming high rate of farm murders? The ANC government sweeps the farm attacks under the carpet, glossing them over as an ordinary crime, with no concern being raised. The masses do not want undeveloped bushland that will require a lot of hard work, when it is far easier to go after white-owned farms that are productive and developed.
The manner in which the farmers and families are tortured before being murdered is savage behavior, and includes burning people with an iron, chopping people with pangas, raping the women, and targeting the elderly. It is barbaric and inhumane to watch people suffer and die. Astoundingly, the savages do not steal much, but will spend hours torturing the land owners instead. South Africa is in a heap of trouble, the fear level of its people is intensifying, and it is not getting better. A ray of hope exists in the opportunity that the civil rights organization, AfriForum, will have to inform the world, at an Australian conference later this month, about the brutal crimes committed against farmers in South Africa .
Opinion by Laura Oneale
Edited by Jennifer Pfalz
PUBLISHED TODAY ON THE GUARDIAN LV