A farmer has pitted himself against his colleagues in supporting the government’s proposed arms control legislation Lynda Gilfillan Karoo farmer Ken Southey looks anything but the dissident. Yet his appearance at public hearings in Parliament last month on the proposed Firearms Control Bill has placed him firmly on the opposite side from most of his colleagues in the farming community who have argued vociferously against the Bill.
Tall and rangy, with a self-deprecatory manner, Southey argued in his submission that the effectiveness of a handgun for self-defence purposes on a farm is “highly debatable”. He related an incident where a neighbour’s collection of 12 guns was useless in an attack where he was taken by surprise. Southey described the “adrenaline rush” and subsequent confusion in the wake of the attack, as well as his own sense of impotence on going to assist. The attackers had long since fled. “The purchasing of a handgun has often been the first response of farmers to the threat of farm attacks. This has often preceded other precautions such as fencing, burglar bars and alarms,” Southey argued. “I feel this reflects the fact that the buying of a handgun is often an emotive response to the threat of a farm attack rather than a rational one.” A further problem is the securing of firearms on a farm: “The traditional rifle safes used can be very easily opened with an angle grinder. Most farmers have an angle grinder in their workshops … There have been instances where a labourer or criminal has made use of the farmer’s angle grinder to open the rifle safe.” While the hunting lobby presented arguments that project an image of mature behavi-our among farmers and their hunting clients, it is clear that this is in many instances a mere facade. The image of what Southey referred to as the “brandy and coke brigade” is part of South African folklore. “[Hunters’] behaviour is often extremely irresponsible. Drinking is very much part of the weekend,” he said. “When shooting springbok, which in the Karoo are herded past the hunter concealed behind an antheap … they often take nips of brandy or [sherry] to keep warm. They will come in for lunch and have wine and then want to go shooting again after lunch,” he said. Southey’s voice is in many senses a lone cry in a wilderness such as the Karoo. Freedom Front leader Constand Viljoen dismissed it as “unrepresentative”, and an Agri South Africa representative expressed annoyance at its “impracticality”. “Do you expect a farmer working in the kraal to run to his bakkie for a shotgun when an attacker surprises him?” When questioned, farmers in the Middelburg district reacted in predictable ways to Southey’s proposals. In a part of the country where the macho ethic rules supreme, many were scornfully dismissive of Southey’s views, while some angrily threatened to “put out a lynch mob”. But the monolithic voice of white farmers is beginning to falter. The lone voice of the Karoo farmer suggests that more creative attitudes to the problems faced by farmers are beginning to emerge. Southey argues that “rather than stockpiling weapons or reaching for a gun, farmers should build more cooperative relations with their workers and the surrounding communities.
“They should be perceived to be participating in land-reform processes, and development work. The us-and-them divide needs to be bridged.”
Southey’s views on firearms chime with those of the head of the trauma unit at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town: “Every year since 1994 there have been at least 11E000 firearm-related deaths … There is absolutely no evidence that the possession of a firearm contributes to one’s safety.” l Since 1991 there have been 5 000 farm attacks and, lately, at least one a week. With public hearings over, the safety and security portfolio committee is examining submissions on the Bill.