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The civil rights organisation AfriForum wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa today to take an unapologetic stance against hateful chants like “Kill the Boer” and to publicly condemn them in the strongest possible terms. This request follows in response to an event on Human Rights Day during which Julius Malema, leader of the EFF, and members of the party performed this chant. This chant explicitly targets certain people, namely the white minority and farmers. If the President wants to improve race relations and wants to ensure that all citizens of the country feel safe and no one is explicitly targeted or ignored, condemning this violent chant would be a decisive step in the right direction.

Furthermore, AfriForum argues that it is high time that farm murders are finally declared a national priority offence as outlined by the Police Act. According to AfriForum, it is a simple and widely recognised principle in policing that a unique crime requires a unique counter-strategy. Several other crimes, such as gender-based violence, cash-in-transit heists, gang violence and rhino poaching, have already been classified as priority crimes. The government’s refusal to take the logical step and declare farm murders a priority crime only further confirms the notion that violent crimes that affect farmers and minority communities in particular are ignored by the government.

In an interview during a visit to the US in 2018, Ramaphosa falsely stated: “There are no killings of farmers or white farmers in South Africa.” He has never retracted this grossly false claim. If the President wants to demonstrate that South Africa is a place where denialism of any violent crime realities is unwelcome, he should, according to AfriForum, retract the offensive and false statements he has made on the international stage.

The letter to Ramaphosa finally highlights that the government needs to work more closely with community safety structures – such as neighbourhood watches and farm patrols – in rural communities to contribute to the fight against farm attacks and rural crime in general. Communities across the country have already established the capacity to fight crime in rural areas at grassroots level in collaboration with and complementary to the South African Police Service (SAPS). These communities are already working closely with the Police in order to make their communities safer.

According to Ernst van Zyl, Head of Public Relations at AfriForum, the President’s silence on the “Kill the Boer” chant reinforces the idea that he is more concerned about not upsetting the EFF than reassuring minority communities who have legitimate concerns and fears about being targeted and villainised.

“For years the government has given the farmers of this country a cold shoulder and turned a blind eye to the extreme violence that affects farmers in the form of brutal farm attacks and murders. The government has also never condemned chants like ‘Kill the Boer’ that target farmers. That needs to change and the current crisis is the perfect opportunity,” Van Zyl concludes.

Issued by AfriForum