AfriForum addresses UN regarding farm murders

The growth in the AfriForum membership has made it possible for the organisation to fix its attention on the international public. This is also the reason why AfriForum addressed the Forum on Minority Affairs of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

It is no longer necessary to explain to the readers of this blog that farm murders are out of control. However, what does have to be emphasised is that AfriForum and victims of farm attacks have made more than ten attempts in the past two years to ask the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, to intervene. What is expected of Mthethwa is simple: Prioritise farm murders. What does that mean in practice? This is also simple: 1) Acknowledge that a problem exists; 2) categorise these attacks as a unique crime and release the statistics (the more information there is, the better it can be combated) and 3) develop a focused counter strategy in collaboration with the local communities in order to stop these attacks.

However, Mthethwa’s attitude is that farmers are not “golden boys and girls”, and that farm murders therefore do not deserve special treatment. His argument is that farm murders are “only murder” and that it does not make any sense to make an exception of one form of a certain crime. “We cannot say that there is murder, but also farm murders,” he argues. This may seem like a good argument, but Mthethwa’s prejudice is clear in his inconsistent actions. It is easy for the government to declare poaching a crime, but also that rhino poaching has to be targeted specifically, or say that assault is a crime, but that violence against women and children has to be targeted specifically, or that theft is a problem, but that the theft of copper cables has to be targeted specifically.

Mthethwa, with his unconcerned attitude, has made it clear that he is not willing to talk, and also that he will not take actively steps against farm murders.

This is why we approached the United Nations Forum on Minority Affairs.

The presentation took place on 27 November 2013. A report was also submitted and the reaction was positive. Besides the fact that AfriForum could inform the delegates of the reality of farm murders in South Africa, there was a deeper motive behind this initiative.

Shortly after the presentation I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the South African government. They had learnt that AfriForum had made a presentation and were quite serious about finding out what exactly had been said. The representative of the South African embassy in Switzerland added that they took a serious view on AfriForum’s initiative and asked why AfriForum was prepared to go to the United Nations, but not to talk to the government about farm murders. Fortunately we were prepared for this one … We had added a second report to the report on the reality of farm murders, in which the ten attempts by AfriForum and the victims of farm attacks to communicate with Mthethwa had been set out, as well as Mthethwa’s reaction to this. The reaction of the representative of the embassy to this was that she would try to schedule a meeting between AfriForum and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, as the actions of the Department of Police now had consequences for her department.

The value of this event was therefore not only the fact that AfriForum could inform the delegates of the reality of farm murders, but also that the South African government realised that AfriForum is prepared to turn to the international community when the government is not prepared to intervene in burning issues.

Another value of such an opportunity is the long-term relationships that are developed with powerful international role players. In this regard the visit was also a major success and follow-up appointments are already in the pipeline.

The bad news is that there are many misconceptions about South Africa (and especially about Afrikaners) and that the international community would like to stick to the image of South Africa as the country of Mandela where everyone lives together in harmony and respects one another. However, the good news is that the international community is increasingly realising that there is a gap between the perception and the reality. If there is no honesty about the realities in the country, we will not be able to offer real solutions.

As far as international awareness is concerned, there is still much to be done.

Ernst Roets
Ernst is Deputy CEO of AfriForum
Follow him on Twitter at @ernstroets