SA takes Aus to task over white farmer comments
THE Department of International Relations and Co-operation has made no bones about the fact that the South African government is deeply offended by the statements made by Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.
This was relayed to Australian High Commissioner to South Africa Adam McCarthy when Dirco issued him with a démarche in Pretoria.
“It was communicated to the High Commissioner that the South African government is offended by the statements which have been attributed to the Australian Home Affairs Minister, and a full retraction is expected,” Dirco has said.
The High Commissioner undertook to immediately communicate with its government to convey the message from Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and the South African government.
In an interview with Radio 702 yesterday, Sisulu said: “We are demanding a retraction because it was misleading. It is causing panic. It is harming our image abroad and we are offended.”
But what has also brought tensions to boiling point is the condescending tone of Dutton’s remarks with reference to a documentary about violent crime in South Africa: “I do think, on the information that I’ve seen, people do need help and they need help from a civilised country like ours.”
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spoken out on the issue in a radio interview on Radio National Breakfast yesterday. “What we do in our humanitarian visa programme is assess visas on their merits, and that’s what Peter Dutton, as Home Affairs Minister, does every day. We assess these claims for refugee or humanitarian status into Australia, and they come from all over the world.
“We have regular discussions with the South African government. We closely monitor reports, for example, on murder rates and patterns across the country in cities and rural areas. Our High Commission is very concerned that there were 19 000 murders reported in South Africa in 2017.”
The issue made the front pages of some Australian newspapers yesterday, with The Nation leading with a story entitled “Fear Has South African Farmers Fleeing”.
The article argued that the police did not seem to have the resources to protect white farmers, and it was hard for them to qualify as refugees because they would need to prove there was no authority to protect them.
The conclusion the article drew was that violent farm attacks were treated as robberies, there were few convictions, and it had become increasingly unsafe for whites to farm in the country.
While some South African commentators have called such media coverage fear-mongering and racist, others pointed to the need for the South African authorities to do more to protect farmers.