Racism not behind farm attacks, says rights group

THERE have been 33 farm murders in 148 attacks this year, but the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) says they weren’t racially motivated.

The Chapter 9 institution released a report yesterday titled “Safety and Security Challenges in Farming Communities”, which looked at farm attacks.

“We cannot make the finding that this is racially motivated, that this is ideologically driven as we experienced in the early 1990s,” said commissioner Dr Danny Titus, the chairman of the investigative hearing.

Some of the report’s other findings are that “law enforcement agencies such as the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority should step up their involvement in combating crimes against farming communities” and that “the SAPS should submit periodic progress reports on crime in farming communities to the SAHRC”.

“It is apparent from numerous respondents’ submissions that the Department of Justice is not fulfilling its role towards the farming community. This includes the alleged lack of information-sharing towards the victim and their families, in addition to the non-dissemination of information regarding trial dates, court procedures and witness preparation.”

It suggested that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform provide a policy brief on the status of land tenure in the farming communities and establish the standard of housing delivered to farmworkers and dwellers.

“This standard needs to be guided by the principles of dignity,” the report stated.

Ernst Roets, the deputy chief executive of AfriForum, an NGO that protects the rights of Afrikaners, thanked the SAHRC and stated that a study his organisation was conducting had found that most farmers didn’t know their attackers.

The president of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa, Mike Mlengana, said a problem overlooked in the report was that the government increased the minimum wages of farm labourers while the farmers’ income remained the same.

“This creates tension and the labourer then thinks the farmer is the enemy. The worker becomes unhappy because the government made a promise,” he said.