White farmers are convinced that renegade armed guerrillas are behind the recent rash of murders in rural areas, reports Justine Nofal
John Biedge is a livestock farmer in the Eastern Cape and chair of the Maclear District Farmer’s Union, which represents an area comprising about 60 farms.
On October 6 he faxed a list of criminal incidents in his district to the Eastern Cape Agricultural Union, which is monitoring the escalating crime on farms in the province:
August 22: attack on vehicle. Father taking his children home from school in Maclear to Umtata. One child shot through shoulder. Other child sustained shrapnel wounds. August 22: attempted hijacking of a local doctor on clinic rounds near Ugie. Shots fired at vehicle. September 5: 4×4 stolen from farm near Maclear. September 7: farmer’s house broken into. Gun safe opened with angle-grinder, guns taken and house ransacked. September 21: Ugie farmer’s house burgled. Safe opened and contents taken. LDV stolen from same farmer who had 4×4 stolen on September 5. September 30: farm manager attacked and shot. October 2: farmer’s security fence cut open and shots fired at farmer when he investigated. October 3: attempted hold-up of farmer and family returning home late at night. October 4: farmer Willemse murdered and wife shot, house ransacked and weapons taken.
Yet Biedge feels that he and his fellow farmers in the district are fortunate. “Things are much worse in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Free State.” He is convinced that political cadres who have not seen their situations improve since 1994 are waging a guerrilla war again. “Perhaps they think if we are driven from our farms, the land will become theirs.”
Chris du Toit, president of the South African Agricultural Union (SAAU), said each province has farmers killed in similar circumstances.
“In most cases of farm violence the attackers are strangers to the farmer. They carefully plan attacks and usually arrive during the day, killing farm workers or whoever gets in their way, and waiting for the farmer to arrive if he is not home. They usually execute the farmer, killing him and leaving him for dead, and do not always steal,” Du Toit said.
Dr Piet Gous, President of the Free State Agricultural Union in whose province several farm murders have taken place recently, believes there is a political conspiracy behind the killing.
He said: “I don’t think the government or the opposition parties have anything to gain from political turmoil and economic decline. So if there is a political basis to crime on farms, maybe there is a political grouping that can thrive on turmoil.”
He quotes the example of a farmer who was killed at Bultfontein in the Free State two weeks ago. “He was wearing a gold chain, a Rolex watch and diamond ring. He was beaten to a pulp but nothing was taken.”
“A couple of weeks ago leaders of political parties told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission they regarded it as their God- given right to kill the white man during the struggle,” said Gous. “If utterances like that are made before the TRC, what are the rank and file thinking? It is worrying the government no end. I can tell you.”
President Nelson Mandela was impressed enough by the case put forward by a recent SAAU delegation to instruct the government’s intelligence arm to help seek out the killers. Mandela also supported the Rural Protection Plan (RPP).
It has brought together farmers, reservists and commandos to identify crime patterns in rural areas and to patrol farms. Farmworkers will also be trained to handle firearms, gather information and patrol. Free State ANC chair Zingile Dingane is also convinced there is a political motive behind the farm killings in the province.
He said while the murders were a cause for concern, during the period in which six farmers had been killed in the province, 358 black township residents had been murdered and no alarm was raised about the black deaths.
Dingane said the farmer killings had to be viewed against the “wanton” evictions of farm workers by farmers who were opposed to the land tenure bill. The killings could thus be retaliatory.
“These (killings) are also a clear indication of the re-emergence of counter- revolutionary elements whose objective is to undermine and frustrate our efforts towards nation building and national reconciliation,” he said.
The SAAU quotes police statistics when emphasising the problem. It says attacks on farmers “increased by 53% nationwide this year, compared to the corresponding period last year”.
But Dr Chris de Kock, research head of the police Crime Information Management Centre in Pretoria, cautions against drawing conclusions from the available figures.
“We do not have sufficient information to make valid scientific deductions. All information about attacks on farms has been gathered ad hoc and police stations are not obliged to report every incident in detail.
“Several hypotheses can then be tested about crime on farms. Maybe there are political groups who are targeting farmers. Maybe crimes are linked to the land claim situation. There are people on farms who have instituted a land claim and are living on the farm, from which they may not be removed. Tensions are running high.
“Maybe ‘hate’ is the motive. Perhaps bad labour relations, recently or long ago, make people turn to crime. Maybe the crime on farms is part of a social pattern. People under the influence of drugs or alcohol might decide to rob a farm, for instance, but the incident develops into a murder unintentionally.
“Maybe crime on farms is just part of the general crime scene in South Africa. Analysis based on comprehensive information will tell us if there really is a conspiracy against farmers.”
Tell this to John Breetske of Kei Mouth who was shot at point blank range in the shoulder by an unknown gunman “who said he was Apla”. This was after one of three attackers killed a farm worker who got in the way. The gunman then emptied the gun safe, selecting two pistols and leaving the hunting rifles.
Or Louis Hauman of Kuruman who was attacked by three men. Or Piet van Eeden who was murdered on his farm at Lindley in the Free State.
Chris du Toit believes there is a standing order among Apla cadres to kill farmers. “Even though South Africa has changed, the idea still prevails that by killing a farmer, one is doing the country a favour. People ignore connections between food production and farming, and the fact that agriculture is the largest employer in South Africa.”
The PAC has vehemently denied Apla involvement in the murders. Eastern Cape PAC secretary Waters Toboti said there was no political motive for any of the murders.
“Are the farmers aware that Apla has been integrated into the SANDF? Of course criminals avoid giving away their identity in this way,” Toboti said. “They should rather put the blame for the murders on the government, which is failing to control the violence in the country.”