Cele victim-blames farmers for heinous farm attacks and murders
9 October 2020
In a recent interview with News24, Police Minister, Bheki Cele, scapegoated and victim-blamed farmers for the brutality, torture, rape, mutilation and murder of farmers and their families. To state that the motive for these brutal attacks is due to worker conditions show utter ignorance on the part of the Minister.
While the Democratic Alliance (DA) will never claim that there are not cases of worker mistreatment, and that these cases must be investigated and condemned, to throw this blanket of culpability over every farmer in the country and to use it as an excuse for torture – is outrageous and about as low as one could expect an ANC Minister to go.
Zero effort has been made by the government to update the 18-year old research project into the causes of these attacks, and for Minister Cele to simply determine the cause without investigation or indeed knowledge of the local communities at all, was nothing short of victim-blaming.
The Minister also claimed in his interview that he would never stir tensions between communities. However, as fast as the DA and others work towards easing tensions between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and fearful, farmers, so Minister Cele, walks behind us destroying any goodwill between these two entities.