DA calls on Free State agriculture MEC to substantiate comments about farmers
20 October 2020
The Free State MEC for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Mr William Bulwane, has entered dangerous political territory when he attempted to qualify farm murders with serious allegations against farmers yesterday.
During an interview regarding the state of agriculture in the Free State on SAFM yesterday, Bulwane made the following comments regarding his interaction with the agricultural sector: “…one it was the killing of farmers and farmers killing farm workers”. He emphasised this with general comments that there are “…many instances when farmers kill their workers” and that this “…still exists in many farms”. However, when asked for statistics to prove his generalisations regarding “many” such instances he referred to only one such incident at Kestell without any further details.
He was unable to substantiate his allegations of many instances and instead indicated that research institutions should be approached to obtain statistics around this issue. Bulwane’s attempts to justify the murders on farms, which affect both farmers and their employees, with generalisations that attempt to portray farmers as being murderers themselves without the necessary proof is irresponsible within the current emotive environment.
Most people in the Free State are united in their diversity around the issue of rural safety and farm murders. It is clear that the ANC thrive on divisions, especially racial division, in order to divert attention away from government corruption and internal conflicts.