Aussie call ‘misleading, dangerous’

8 SA government demands a full retraction of condescending minister’s invite to white farmers

THE Department of International Relations and Co-operation has made no bones about the fact that the government is offended by statements made by Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

This was relayed to Australian High Commissioner to South Africa Adam McCarthy when the department issued him with a démarche (formal diplomatic protest) in Pretoria.

Dutton suggested South Africa’s white farmers were being persecuted and deserved protection. In a radio inter- view yesterday, Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Lindiwe Sisulu said: “We are now demanding a retraction of the statement, because it was misleading. It is causing panic. It is harming our image abroad and we are offended by that.”

Dutton’s initial comments provoked unprecedented outrage in official circles in South Africa, with Sisulu stating: “There is no reason for any government in the world to suspect that a section of South Africans is under danger from their own democratically elected government.

“We regret that the Australian government chose not to use the available diplomatic channels available for them to raise concerns.”

But what also brought tensions to boiling point was the condescending tone of Dutton’s remarks with reference to a documentary about violent crime in South Africa, when he said this week: “I do think, on the information that I’ve seen, people do need help and they need help from a civilised country like ours.”

While the Australian High Commission in Pretoria refused to make any additional comments, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said: “People apply for the visas and they’re assessed on their merits…

“We assess these claims for refugee or humanitarian status into Australia, and they can come from all over the world and they do.

“We have regular discussions with the South African gover nment… “And I know that our high commission is very concerned that there were 19 000 murders reported in South Africa in 2017.”

According to rights group AfriForum, last year 84 farmers were killed (out of 19 000 murders in the country), and more than 400 attacked, 15% of whom were tortured.

AfriForum estimates that a white farmer is twice as likely to be murdered as a policeman, and four times as likely as a private citizen.

The issue made the front pages of some Australian newspapers yesterday, with The Nation’s story headline, “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 as they would need to prove that there was no authority to protect them.

The conclusion the article draws is that violent farm attacks are merely treated as robberies, there are few convictions, and it had become increasingly unsafe for whites to farm.

While some commentators have called such media coverage fear-mongering and racist, others have pointed to the need for the authorities to do more to protect farmers living in remote areas.