Farm murders: President must recognise gruesome reality and take action

6 July 2020

The gruesome reality of farm murders has been denied and dismissed by the greater part of the South African society and the ANC government for long enough now – President Cyril Ramaphosa should have recognised it and done something about it a long time ago already.

In the most recent incident in a wave of attacks and murders that have only increased in severity over the last few weeks, an Indian farmer's 26-year-old pregnant wife and mother of two young children in Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal died during an attack in which her throat was slit.

It appears as if the man put up a fight in an attempt to protect his family against the attackers as they also tried to strangle his eight-year-old son. The man and his daughter, four, are unharmed.

The leader of the FF Plus (Dr Pieter Groenewald) will send an official letter to President Ramaphosa to address this incident and the occurrence of farm attacks in general as well as to bring it to the President's attention that his impression that only white farmers are being murdered is wrong.

All farmers in South Africa are being targeted and murdered. This is a serious threat to food security and President Ramaphosa cannot put off taking action any longer.

The FF Plus wants to reiterate its message that the agricultural community must prepare to fight fire with fire, within the constraints of the law.

The senseless massacre of the people of the agricultural community – as in this case where a young woman was literally slaughtered like an animal and the perpetrators fled without stealing a single thing – simply cannot continue any longer.

The rising number of attacks and the extraordinary brutality of the attacks are surely enough proof that this is no ordinary crime, but organised crime that calls for urgent attention.

It is clear that at present, farmers cannot rely on the government for protection. Farm attacks will, unfortunately, increase and the agricultural community must prepare to fight fire with fire, within the constraints of the law.

Everyone in the country has the constitutional right to defend him- or herself when their safety and / or life is endangered.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 6 July 2020