AfriForum to intensify campaign against farm attacks; invites victims to get involved

AfriForum has today appealed to South Africans who have been affected by farm attacks to get involved in the struggle to convince the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa to declare farm murders a priority crime. Victims are, for this purpose, encouraged to send their stories to stopthemurders@afriforum.co.za so that they can be involved in the campaign. This intensified campaign will especially focus on public involvement.

“This appeal has been made in the light of the minister’s unconcerned attitude towards farm attacks and his refusal to even acknowlegde that the farm murder situation is a crisis,” Ernst Roets, AfriForum’s Deputy CEO said.

Roets explained that the minister has taken active steps in the past three months to discredit AfriForum’s campaign for the prioritising of farm murders.

• A protest march against farm murders, hosted by AfriForum on 1 December 2012, was declared illegal by die minister, despite a declaratory court order which gave AfriForum the legal go-ahead for the march.
• In January this year, a hundred South Africans, who were directly affected by farm murders, wrote letters to the minister, appealing to him to prioritise farm murders. The minister responded by brushing off the victims’ letters as ʼn “publicity stunt”.
• Shortly thereafter the minister launched another attack against AfriForum at a business breakfast, organised by die New Age newspaper.

The minister has recently also, through his spokesperson, said that he’s not willing to prioritise farm murders, as the majority of farmers (and by implication also victims) are white and that the prioritisation of farm murders boils down to “racialisation”.

“We have one of two choices: We can either back down or we can intensify the campaign,” Roets said. “That’s why we are appealing to the public, and especially to those who’ve been affected by farm attacks, to send us their information, so that we can involve them in the next phase of the campaign.”

More details regarding the intensified campaign will be made public soon.