Five of six farm attack victims in last quarter were black, says police minister

Police minister Senzo Mchunu on Friday said six attacks on rural communities were recorded in the fourth quarter with two fatalities, and in all but one case the victims were black.

While he did not on principle categorise people by race, he said he was doing so in the context of claims about a “genocide of white people”.

“The history of farm murders in the country has always been distorted and reported in an unbalanced way. The truth is farm murders have always included African people in more numbers,” he said. 

“The two farm owners who were murdered during the fourth quarter were African and not white. The two farm employees and one farm manager were also black. One farm dweller was white,” Mchunu said.

“Last quarter we reported 12 farm murders had been reported, with one farm owner murdered. Notable progress has been made in respect of investigations into the cases, and a number of arrests have been made.”

The April 30 murder of a white farmer, Robert Stoltz, 78, in Roossenekal in Limpopo, “occurred in the first quarter of the financial year and will thus be reflected in the release of the next crime statistics”, the minister said.

Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the case.

Commenting on US President Donald Trump’s remarks about white farmers being under attack, and attackers acting with impunity, Mchunu said: “We do want to assure South Africans the SAPS prioritises all types of crimes and conducts thorough investigations to ensure justice is ultimately served.

“We want to reject the notion of ‘land grabbing’ in the country but instead confirm we do have cases of land invasions and the two are very different. Land invasions are not government policy but are, by and large, acts of desperation for land by African people who find themselves landless and need to settle. It is sporadic and it remains unlawful, hence the cases and investigations thereof. This is what has warranted expropriation, to address the problem in a lawful, systematic way.”

Mchunu also addressed the photo of crosses allegedly highlighting farm murders in SA, shown by Trump this week.

“We have respect for the US as a country, we have respect for the people in that country and for President Trump, but we have no respect for the genocide story. It is totally unfounded and unsubstantiated.

“We have noted doubt expressed by media houses in the US, UK and SA, and we welcome it. SA is a full democratic state, with a lot of NGOs, NPOs and free media. They would have run headlines locally and abroad if there was a genocide,” Mchunu said

The picture of crosses on both sides of a dirt road between Newcastle and Normandien in KwaZulu-Natal stemmed from a community protest against the 2020 murder of cattle farmer Glen Rafferty and his wife Vida.

“The crosses symbolised killings on farms over years. They are not graves. Three suspects were arrested and sentenced for their murders and they are in jail,” said Mchunu.

“This debunks the claim that nothing is done when crime is committed.” Mchunu said.

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