Even as the New York Times called the “Kill the Boer” struggle song “a metaphor,” there have been 68 farm attacks and ten farm murders in South Africa since radical Marxist “Economic Freedom Fighters” leader Julius Malema chanted “Kill the Boer” at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg in front of 90,000 supporters July 29, South Africa Today reports.
In one attack, a couple from KwaZulu-Natal were seriously assaulted, while their attackers shouted: “Kill the Boer! Kill the farmer!” In September 2023, there were fourteen farm attacks and two farm murders in South Africa. In August 2023, there were nineteen farm attacks and four farm murders, and in July 2023, there were twenty-one farm attacks and four farm murders.
On October 18, four attackers broke into a farm house in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, but a brave young farmer fought back, shooting two attackers dead and wounding a third. This is why it is so very important to fight for your Second Amendment rights.
On October 10, 14-year-old Jayden Louw was killed by five armed men as the brave young man tried to protect his mother. The five attackers arrived in a BMW X5 at their home on a small farm outside Bapsfontein, east of Johannesburg.
Jayden, his mother Lyall and brother Damian (10) were home alone when there was a knock at the front door at 1 pm. The men rammed their way in and forced Lyall to open the safes. When Jayden saw his mother being manhandled, he tried to protect her even as his mother told him and his brother to run, says Lyall. She heard two shots from a pistol and saw Jayden bleeding from a chest wound. The killers fled the scene and Lyall rushed Jayden to the Netcare Linmed Hospital in Benoni. His father Duan, who overhauls trucks and farms sheep, made it just in time to say farewell to his son.
“He tried to save me,” Lyall said. “I told him to run. I told him that he and his brother were more important than my life.”
Afrikaner civil rights organization AfriForum presented a memorandum to South African Predient Cyril Ramphosa in Pretoria Oct. 12, accusing the South African government of “denial, lack of action and even incitement to farm murders and attacks.”
The presentation of the memorandum came “in response to the government’s long-standing and ongoing failure to fulfil its duty in respect of the protection of South African citizens – and the farming community in particular – against heinous attacks and hate speech,” AfriForum wrote.
“The fact that the government simply sits idly by and watches as criminals wreak havoc among the rural community and some politicians deny or even encourage farm murders, is now forcing communities to organise themselves and play a greater role in their own safety. This is precisely what AfriForum is already doing with success through its national network of safety structures.”
In addition to politicians’ blatant denial of farm murders, the government still refuses to declare farm killings and attacks a “priority crime,” AfriForum complains, despite “overwhelming evidence and arguments justifying such classification.” The civil rights group accuses “prominent politicians and their supporters” such as Malema of inciting violence against minorities, especially farmers.
In the memorandum, AfriForum also points the president to a recent AfriForum study which found that out of the 1,402 farm attacks and farm murder incidents recorded by the South African Police Service (SAPS) between 2019 and 2022, there have so far been only 66 convictions. AfriForum says the poor conviction rate can be attributed to poor investigative work and the government’s apparent unwillingness to tackle the problems in rural safety.
#AfriForum is set to equip communities to respond effectively & share in the responsibility for their safety. @GovernmentZA does not fulfil its duty & makes the emergence of resilient, community-based safety structures inevitable & necessary. Video from last nights mass patrol: pic.twitter.com/btNVcDNcBu
— Monique Taute (@monique_taute) October 14, 2023
According to AfriForum’s Community Safety spokesman Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum is currently in the process of significantly increasing the amount of resources allocated for neighbourhood and farm watch training and equipment, because the unwelcoming political environment that continues under Ramaphosa requires it.
.@afriforum Neighbourhood Watch patrols countrywide will continue throughout the night. pic.twitter.com/U3WSOG7TYI
— Jacques Broodryk (@JacquesBroodryk) October 13, 2023
On Friday, October 13, at least 1,088 AfriForum neighborhood watch members from the Free State, North West and KwaZulu-Natal participated in a “national mass patrol” in their respective towns, cities and regions. A total of 16,880 km was travelled with 537 vehicles in these three provinces. Neighborhood watch units responded to 145 separate incidents. AfriForum now has 169 neighbourhood and farm watch structures with approximately 11,000 volunteers.
.@afriforum Neighbourhood Watch in Gauteng, assisting law enforcement. National patrols will continue throughout the night. pic.twitter.com/YJLHlC8yR8
— Jacques Broodryk (@JacquesBroodryk) October 13, 2023
“In a political environment that is characterised by denial, lack of action and even incitement to farm murders and attacks, AfriForum is set to equip communities to respond effectively and thus share in the responsibility for their safety. When a government does not fulfil its duty to protect its citizens, it makes the emergence of resilient, community-based safety structures inevitable and necessary,” Broodryk said.
