South African farm killings spur walk

Despite being half a world away, Ian Smith still feels the pain of his home over a spate of farm killings.

On Monday evening a group of about 50 people in black shirts walked from New Plymouth’s East End beach to the Wind Wand to raise awareness of the murders of farmers taking place in South Africa.

They finished with a moment of silence and prayers for South Africa.

‘‘So far away it does touch us, it does touch me. It does stir up something within you,’’ Smith said.

‘‘We’ve still got family living there as well.’’

He said other centres in New Zealand held similar ‘‘Black Monday’’ marches and the walks also took place in South Africa.

In Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg convoys of hundreds of slow moving trucks and cars brought traffic to a crawl on highways leading from farming areas.

The protests, mostly by white farmers, have been peaceful and the South African police have accompanied the demonstrators.

He said there had already been 63 murders this year, and 177 attacks.

They wore black because it was the colour of mourning.

‘‘Hopefully it will create a bit of awareness.

‘‘The whole of South Africa is getting up now and standing up now as well.’’

There were a few more people than he expected, and most of the walkers were from South Africa, he said.

‘‘I’ve mostly heard Afrikaans speaking at the moment.’’

PHOTO ANDY JACKSON/STUFF A group of South African people walked along New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway from East End to the wind wand wearing black shirts to raise awareness for all the brutal farm killings in South Africa. Organiser Ian Smith hopes it has helped create...