JONNY STEINBERG: The term ‘farm attacks’ whitewashes the criminal reality
There wasn’t and isn’t a conspiracy to kill white farmers, writes Jonny Steinberg, black residents of smallholdings probably bear the brunt of the crimes
In 1997, when Nelson Mandela’s new government capitulated to the farmers’ lobby and agreed to record "farm attacks" as a discreet category of crime, I was in the thick of a research project about violence against white farmers. I was pretty shocked by the terms to which the government agreed. The very words chosen to describe what a "farm attack" was presupposed that a conspiracy against white farmers was underway. Included in the definition were "all actions aimed at farming activities as a commercial concern, whether for motives related to ideological, labour disputes, land issues, revenge, grievances or racist concerns, for example, intimidation." Sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it? And yet, when one cut the dramatic wrapping away, the definition inside was something quite different."Attacks on farms and smallholdings are acts aimed against the person or residents on farms and smallholdings, whether with the intent to murder, rape, rob or inflict bodily harm." And so farm attacks ...
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