A new campaign against farm attacks is to get under way with a protest march in North West on Friday, the trade union Solidarity said.
”We want to make people more emotional over this issue,” Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans told the South African Press Association.
He said vigils and other forms of protest — involving major players in the agricultural sector — are being planned in the longer term.
”It will be an ongoing campaign. We need to make people aware of the fact that farm killings are not just another form of crime. They deserve special attention.”
Solidarity said this drive is intended to be the ”largest civil campaign ever seen in South Africa”.
The action was triggered after an attack at Swartruggens last week, in which Frans Pieterse was tortured and strangled in full view of his family in their home.
Pieterse was an employee of the Helam diamond mine in Swartruggens, and a member of Solidarity.
Solidarity official Dirk Hermann said: ”We cannot sit by and do nothing when one of our own members is put to death in such a savage manner.”
”Safety and security on farms is a big issue at the moment and we are addressing it, but I have not heard of Solidarity’s campaign,” said chairperson of Agri-South Africa’s law and order committee, Kiewiet Ferreira.
Chris van Zyl, manager of safety and security at Transvaal Agricultural Union South Africa, confirmed that he had been approached by a representative of Solidarity.
”Generally speaking, security has not seemed to rate as high on Solidarity’s list as it appears to now. But the recent murder of one of its members appears to have brought the message home,” said Van Zyl.
”We have our own security systems in place, but in no way are we opposed to meeting and sharing ideas.”
Officials at the National African Farmers’ Union could not be immediately reached for comment.
”We are in the planning stages of the campaign now. We will be circulating information to various agencies as well as designing a website, which will allow people to follow the protest and give their input on farm attacks,” said Kleynhans. — Sapa