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en.wikipedia.org
South African farm attacks (
Afrikaans:
plaasaanvalle) are violent crimes, including assault, murder, rape, and robbery, that take place on farms in
South Africa.
[1][2][3][4] The attacks target both
white and
black farmers.
[2][3][5][1] The term has no formal legal definition, but such attacks have been the subject of discussion by media and public figures in South Africa and abroad.
Claims that such attacks on farmers disproportionately target whites are a key element of the
white genocide conspiracy theory and have become a common talking point among
white nationalists worldwide.
[12] However, due to the lack of comprehensive data on the racial composition of farm households, it is unclear whether white farmers are being targeted in particular or if they face a disproportionate risk of being killed.
[17] The
Government of South Africa and other analysts say that farm attacks are part of a broader crime problem in South Africa and do not have a racial motivation.
[2][7][18][19]
The
Suidlanders, a
survivalist Afrikaner group preparing for a
race war[70][71] predicted by Boer "prophet"
Siener van Rensburg,
[70] has taken credit for publicising the issue internationally after undertaking a tour of the United States in 2017.
[72]
Australia
After an Australian journalist was given a guided tour of South Africa by Afriforum,
[73][74][75][76] stories about attacks on white farmers appeared in
News Corp Australia newspapers
[75] claiming that
white South Africans were "trapped like frogs in boiling water"
[77] and that the South African government was "notoriously corrupt" and "potentially complicit" in the attacks
[6] and stating that the farmers were being "persecuted" because of their race.
[78][79]
In March 2018,
Australia's
Minister for Home Affairs,
Peter Dutton, proposed fast-tracking
[80] white South African farmers as
refugees,
[81][82] stating that "they need help from a civilised country",
[81][82] amid pressure by the
South African Australian community for a special immigration intake for their family members.
[77][79] Far-right marchers from the
Australian Liberty Alliance in
Perth carried signs exhorting the Australian government to "let the right ones [white South Africans] in",
[83] and MPs
Andrew Hastie and
Ian Goodenough headlined a rally in Perth,
[84] which was also attended by
far-right extremist
[85][86] Neil Erikson,
[87][84] while senator
Fraser Anning and MP
Andrew Laming appeared at a
Brisbane rally that was also attended by members of the far-right group, the
Proud Boys.
[88] Dutton's proposal reportedly got support from some of his party's
backbenchers and Liberal Democrat Senator
David Leyonhjelm;
[89] however, Leyonhjelm later clarified that he thought that South African farmers could be admitted under existing family reunification and skilled visa programmes, and that he did not believe that they qualified as refugees.
[90]
The Australian High Commissioner was subjected to a
démarche by the South African
Department of International Relations & Co-operation, which expressed offence at Dutton's statements, and demanded a retraction,
[91][92] stating that "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".
[93] Afrikaner groups including AfriForum and the Suidlanders, who took credit for Dutton's offer,
[72] rejected the idea of Afrikaners becoming refugees.
[72]
Australia's ruling
Coalition MPs subsequently stated that white farmers were entitled to apply for humanitarian visas, without necessarily meeting the definition of "refugees", describing the situation as difficult and unique but without calling for a special category of visa to be created.
[94] The Australian government effectively retracted Dutton's offer by responding to the démarche with a letter that "satisfied" the South African foreign ministry,
[95] with the South African government officially welcoming the letter and stating again that "...no one is being persecuted in South Africa, including white farmers".
[96][97] However, Dutton reiterated his position that the farmers were persecuted, denied any retraction, and insisted that the Australian government was looking at "several" individual cases that may qualify for humanitarian visas,
[98] stating that his critics were "dead to me".
[99]
In April 2018, it emerged that Dutton's department had previously blocked asylum applications by a white farmer, and another white South African woman on the basis that "the vast majority of crimes against whites are not racially motivated", and on the basis that there was no evidence of racial persecution, with the decisions upheld by the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
[100]
AfriForum toured Australia in October 2018 to "raise awareness" of farm attacks, appearing on
Sky News Australia program
Outsiders, where a member was interviewed by
Ross Cameron and Rowan Dean,
[101] and they met Andrew Hastie and delivered a presentation before the
Parliament of Western Australia.
[102]
United States
In August 2018,
Fox News host
Tucker Carlson commented that the South African government had disproportionately targeted white farmers during its ongoing
land reform efforts due to anti-white racism. He also criticised political "elites", who are purportedly concerned about racism, but "paying no attention" to the "racist government of South Africa".
[7][15][103] However,
BBC News,
CBS News,
Associated Press,
PolitiFact,
The New York Times and
The Wall Street Journal described Carlson's segment as false or misleading.
[7][8][9][15][16][104][105] President Ramaphosa had proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow some land to be expropriated without compensation; however, that amendment had not yet been voted upon as of August 2018.
[7]
Following Carlson's segment, President
Donald Trump instructed Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo to study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers closely, tweeting: "South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers".
[7][15][103] Trump's tweet was denounced as "misinformed" by the South African government, which stated that it would address the matter through diplomatic channels.
[15] Political officers of the American embassy in South Africa investigated the claims, consulting farmers, police, and academics for further information. In a cable sent to the State Department, they concluded that there was "no evidence that murders on farms specifically target white people or are politically motivated" and that "some journalists and lobby groups have simplified complex land disputes to serve their own ends".
[34] AfriForum took credit for Carlson and Trump's statements, stating that it believed that its campaign to influence American politics had succeeded.
[15]
In 2018, Afriforum leaders also embarked on a tour of the US to "raise awareness" about farm attacks in South Africa and land expropriation.
[73][74][75]
White genocide conspiracy theory
The claim of a white genocide in South Africa has been promoted by right-wing groups in South Africa and the United States and is a frequent talking point among white nationalists.
[6][7][8][9][10] There are no reliable figures that suggest that white farmers are at greater risk of being killed than the average South African.
[7][15][16] Some Black South Africans have sought to seize privately owned land which they have made claims to; however, South African police have stopped such attempts at appropriating land.
[105]
Fact checkers have widely identified the notion of a white genocide in South Africa as a falsehood or myth.
[7][14] The government of South Africa and other analysts maintain that farm attacks are part of a
broader crime problem in South Africa, and do not have a racial motivation. The
Afrikaner rights group
AfriForum claim that some attacks are racially motivated.
[2][18][19][20] Racist vitriol is an element in some of the murders of white farmers.
[25] According to genocide studies and prevention professor
Gregory Stanton, "early warnings of genocide are still deep in South African society, though genocide has not begun".
[6]