PHILIPPE BERNES-LASSERRE, Nelspruit | Thursday
SOUTH Africa’s white farmers on Wednesday denounced the government’s failure to protect them against murderous attacks, but said they were ready to help redistribute land to the impoverished black majority.
Their organisation, Agri SA, holding an annual congress in the eastern town of Nelspruit, accused the government of having “failed miserably” to protect its 70 000 members, with 70 murdered in 550 attacks so far this year.
The death toll over the past 10 years adds up to more than 1 000, with 5 600 farms attacked.
“The violence and the intensity of the violence is getting worse,” Agri SA president Japie Grobler told the congress.
In 2000, 902 farms were attacked, with 144 farmers and family members murdered; in 1999, 813 farms were attacked, and in 1998, 769.
Any government’s primary obligation was to ensure the safety of its citizens, Grobler said, but: “I want to tell our government — you have failed miserably in this task.”
He called on Pretoria to reestablish a climate of law and order throughout the country, with penalties harsh enough to dispel the notion that crime pays.
Later, he told journalists: “I don’t think it’s just crime. We suspect there is a whole variety of reasons” for the attacks on white farmers, who still own some 80% of South Africa’s farmland.
“It could be criminality, it could be people wanting land, it could be people instigated by politicians and people using hate speech against farmers. It could be people wanting to scare farmers off their land.”
Grobler said Agri SA had “ideas” on the motives behind the attacks, but was awaiting the results of an inquiry ordered by Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete.
Violent occupations of white-owned farms in neighbouring Zimbabwe could be worsening the situation in South Africa, he added.
South Africa’s Afrikaner farmers were traditionally pillars of its prosperity, but since the end of apartheid in 1994 they have lost subsidies, and are now facing intense global competition.
Farmers are going bankrupt daily, Grobler said, noting that the number of commercial — as opposed to subsistence — farmers in South Africa is now just above half of the 130 000 on the land in 1970.
The number of farmers’ loan applications rejected has increased by 59% since 1998, he added.
Agri SA is also trying to combat the image of reactionary Boer farmers who treat their black hands like slaves — an image reinforced by press reports of farmers manhandling and even killing their workers, but which Grobler insists are exceptions to the rule.
The government is buying up farms to redistribute among the landless, but the process is slow — just 15 000 allocations of land have been made in response to 65 000 requests.
Agri SA deputy president Lourie Bosman said the organisation was committed to land reform as a priority and a precondition for a just and stable rural society, but warned that incentives and support for emerging farmers should not be overdone.
“We must caution against creating a culture of dependency … by continuing support indefinitely,” he told the congress.
Organised agriculture and private enterprise “should have a key role in launching innovative development programmes, in forming partnerships with new farmers, and in providing essential services and mentorship to new entrants,” Bosman said.
But it would be unacceptable for commercial farmers to sacrifice more of their assets and income for this purpose than other taxpayers, he said.
“Paternalism with land reform, especially from the side of government should be avoided at all times.”
Bosman called on the private sector and donor agencies to help mobilise money for land reform to supplement the government’s contribution. – AFP