This is a really sad story and one that is still going on today in Zimbabwe. We seldom hear or read about the crimes and thuggery still going on in Zimbabwe, mainly against the white folks who still live there. Before any of you out there jump all over me, remember this; there are two sides to every story and the LSM will do all it can to cover up reports like this. This came to me by way of a friend in South Africa. Jan has lived through some horrible times and seen alot of events and violence that once again, does not get reported on much here in the west. You think these lands will ever be farmed productively again? The likleyhood of that is extremely small. This is posted exactley as I received this.
Who in their right mind would dream of investing in Zimbabwe
By Cathy Buckle.
Date Posted: Friday 24-Sep-2010
[Thanks to Lars, who is a regular reader in San Francisco for this one. Jan]
My son was 8 years old when we were forced off our Marondera farm by war veterans and Zanu PF youths in September 2000. Richard does not remember those very traumatic months that we lived alongside the men who had invaded our farm. Men who were far too young to have been veterans of war; youths who were almost always drunk, drugged, abusive and threatening. Camped in a paddock within sight of our house, a rabble took over our lives, claimed the farm field by field, destroyed our business, livelihood and pension and finally chased us out of our home. For a long time I have been very glad that Richard does not remember that frightening, horrible time but that all changed this week when I phoned him one morning. Richie said he couldn t talk just then because he was on his way to help a friend who was being evicted from his farm and had been given until 3 that afternoon to get out.
My heart was in my mouth at the thought of another family going through the devastating anguish of being forced out of their home. With just hours in which to pack and move a home and business of a lifetime, I knew that this Mother and her son would need all the help they could get. Before long, like Richard, I was rushing to help and it took me back in time to that bad place that holds only fear and painful memories. Just a few kilometres out of Marondera town, down a bumpy, winding, dust road through the most magnificent Msasa woodland adorned in glorious spring leaves, I followed my son s vehicle. We travelled for a dozen kilometres and saw no one and nothing: no ploughed fields, no sheep or cattle, no crops or greenhouses. A line of fence posts caught my eye: standing in a perfectly straight line they had once been a paddock or a boundary but the wire was all gone and the poles stood as lonely sentinels watching over these deserted, seized farms.
Arriving at the farm of my son's friend, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as soon as I stepped out of my vehicle. Sitting on stumps and broken plastic chairs under a covered carport a few metres from the house were the land invaders. A tatty rabble they were. Half a dozen of them, mostly youngsters and openly drinking at 11 in the morning; one swigging from a $4 bottle of Vladinoff Vodka, others drinking beer out of cut off plastic bottles. One was drumming and they were singing crude versions of Chimurenga songs whose lyrics had been changed to: They are coming to move you out. By 3 this afternoon this will be our house. We are happy you are going. We are getting our land.
I recognized one of the men, a scruffy layabout with dreadlocks who hangs around car parks. And these were to be our farmers, I thought with contempt. I did not meet their eyes or respond to their begging calls for cigarettes.
I hugged the woman who was losing her home today but we did not talk, there are no words. All day we worked removing curtains and pictures, emptying drawers and cupboards, loading our vehicles with another destroyed life. Eight years ago half this farm was given to the Zimbabwe government but bit by bit they took more and now this bunch outside wanted it all. Wearing broken green plastic flip flops and woolly hats even in the 25 degree heat, they were determined they were going to have this house, and they were going to have it today.
The Police did not come, would not come, because this, they said, was political, not criminal. As 3pm came and went, tempers flared and the invaders moved into the garden and then some even into the living room. The farmer s dogs, chained under a shady tree whined and whimpered as they couldn't protect their owners. A beautiful brown and white cat lay on the floor in the bedroom surrounded by boxes, piles, suitcases, coat hangers.
As the shadows lengthened and with the red setting sun in our eyes I followed my son s vehicle away from his friend s farm for the last time. The dust was thick and choking and I felt tears burning my eyes. How can this be? 10 years after it happened to us, it is still going on. Nothing has changed; no attempt to stop the destruction of agriculture; no response from the Police; no respect for Title Deeds, property rights or even a family's private home.
Who in their right mind would dream of investing in Zimbabwe when a bunch of arbitrary drunken thugs can get away with something like this because it is political. Is this Zanu PF politics or Unity Government politics.
Source Url: http://www.cathybuckle.com/index.php?id=8
Posted By: Jan
AfricanCrisis Webmaster
Author of: Government by Deception
Hat tip: Jan Lamprecht
AfricanCrisis
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Black on Black violence coming to South Africa?
Labels:
2010 World Cup Soccer,
Julius Malema and ANC,
Robert Mugabe,
South African genocide of whites and blacks,
Zimbabwe
As South Africa shines under the glow and glimmer of the World Cup, all is not well in this country. There is no doubt that violence will once again ripple throughout South Africa but more a matter of when. I do not think it will limited to violence on just whites or blacks. It will be both ways and could quite possibly be much worse than what South Africa has witnessed in the last few years. From Jan who does Africancrisis and Americancrisis.
S.Africa: 2010: FIFA World cup - The Undertone of violence & a coming Black on Black Civil war afterwards...
By Jan Lamprecht
[These stories are spreading out everywhere. There is stacks of evidence with regard to this.
Special note: It appears as if nobody was prosecuted for xenophobia in 2008. That again tells me the ANC's hand is behind this. Jan]
Johannesburg — South Africa is hosting the continent's first soccer World Cup but the mounting anticipation is not drowning out a vicious whispering campaign calling for the expulsion of foreign nationals within hours of the curtain going down on football's biggest jamboree.
The local media has been awash with anecdotal stories of conspiracies brewing at taxi ranks, shebeens and markets to bring a pogrom against foreign African nationals, who are blamed for taking! jobs and diverting government services, while NGOs concerned with the plight of refugees and migrants are becoming more worried as 12 July - the day after the final game - draws near.
Jacob Dlamini, a columnist for Business Day, a local newspaper, recounted an incident in Katlehong, the Johannesburg township where he grew-up, in a 27 May article. "I overheard three local women taunting a Mozambican man: 'Make sure you are packed and ready to go by July 12', they said. 'But you know some of your sisters will starve if I am expelled from here', he answered. 'We don't care', said the women."
South African protesters chant slogans
Xenophobia, a constant companion of post-apartheid Sou! th Africa, found its most deadly expression in May 2008 after ! an incid ent in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra ignited violence against foreigners across the country, resulting in scores of deaths and the displacement of more than 100,000 people.
Afterwards, early warning systems were set up to ensure a quick response to xenophobic violence, but Jacques Kamanda, general secretary of the Coordinating Body of Refugee Communities, told IRIN these were not functioning.
Since 2008, "no-one has been convicted for the attacks", he said, and a city councillor from the ruling African National Congress, on trial in the port city of Durban for allegedly leading a mob that forced two men - one from Zimbabwe and the other from Tanzania - to jump to their deaths from a block of flats, "is still a free man". A third man survived the fall.
Kamanda, originally from the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo, said the government should take a stand against xenophobia. "We need the [South African] government to stand up and say who we ar! e and why we are here, but they say nothing."
There were widespread "reports by foreign nationals around the country that they are being threatened with violence after the World Cup", the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CORMSA) said in a statement issued on 11 May to commemorate the second anniversary of the 2008 xenophobic attacks.
"These threats are coming from many different people: neighbours, colleagues, taxi-drivers, passers-by on the street, but also from nurses, social workers and police officers. Worrying, too, is that some of those making the threats believe that they have the support of senior political leaders," the statement said.
Duncan Breen, an advocacy officer for CORMSA, told IRIN that on the one hand speculation of an outbreak of xenophobia risked becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, while on the other it was "irresponsible not to alert people to the possibility, so no one can say they did not see it coming".
!
However, he said South Africa had a history of conspiracie! s that h ad not led to action, like the one that when former President Nelson Mandela left office, "whites would die like flies".
A recent survey of 6,636 participants on the quality of life in Gauteng, the country's richest province, by the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO), a provincial government think-tank, in partnership with two of Johannesburg's universities, found that the xenophobic streak running through South African society was not confined to poor and marginalised communities.
Prof David Everatt, the GCRO's executive director, told local media that 73 percent of the participants with tertiary education thought "foreigners are taking benefits meant for South Africans", while three-quarters of those without tertiary education believed this was an accurate assessment. Everatt commented: "If the attitudes of xenophobia remain ... we have a problem."
Source Url: http://allafrica.com/! stories/201005271112.html
http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=78042&
S.Africa: 2010: FIFA World cup - The Undertone of violence & a coming Black on Black Civil war afterwards...
By Jan Lamprecht
[These stories are spreading out everywhere. There is stacks of evidence with regard to this.
Special note: It appears as if nobody was prosecuted for xenophobia in 2008. That again tells me the ANC's hand is behind this. Jan]
Johannesburg — South Africa is hosting the continent's first soccer World Cup but the mounting anticipation is not drowning out a vicious whispering campaign calling for the expulsion of foreign nationals within hours of the curtain going down on football's biggest jamboree.
The local media has been awash with anecdotal stories of conspiracies brewing at taxi ranks, shebeens and markets to bring a pogrom against foreign African nationals, who are blamed for taking! jobs and diverting government services, while NGOs concerned with the plight of refugees and migrants are becoming more worried as 12 July - the day after the final game - draws near.
Jacob Dlamini, a columnist for Business Day, a local newspaper, recounted an incident in Katlehong, the Johannesburg township where he grew-up, in a 27 May article. "I overheard three local women taunting a Mozambican man: 'Make sure you are packed and ready to go by July 12', they said. 'But you know some of your sisters will starve if I am expelled from here', he answered. 'We don't care', said the women."
South African protesters chant slogans
Xenophobia, a constant companion of post-apartheid Sou! th Africa, found its most deadly expression in May 2008 after ! an incid ent in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra ignited violence against foreigners across the country, resulting in scores of deaths and the displacement of more than 100,000 people.
Afterwards, early warning systems were set up to ensure a quick response to xenophobic violence, but Jacques Kamanda, general secretary of the Coordinating Body of Refugee Communities, told IRIN these were not functioning.
Since 2008, "no-one has been convicted for the attacks", he said, and a city councillor from the ruling African National Congress, on trial in the port city of Durban for allegedly leading a mob that forced two men - one from Zimbabwe and the other from Tanzania - to jump to their deaths from a block of flats, "is still a free man". A third man survived the fall.
Kamanda, originally from the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo, said the government should take a stand against xenophobia. "We need the [South African] government to stand up and say who we ar! e and why we are here, but they say nothing."
There were widespread "reports by foreign nationals around the country that they are being threatened with violence after the World Cup", the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CORMSA) said in a statement issued on 11 May to commemorate the second anniversary of the 2008 xenophobic attacks.
"These threats are coming from many different people: neighbours, colleagues, taxi-drivers, passers-by on the street, but also from nurses, social workers and police officers. Worrying, too, is that some of those making the threats believe that they have the support of senior political leaders," the statement said.
Duncan Breen, an advocacy officer for CORMSA, told IRIN that on the one hand speculation of an outbreak of xenophobia risked becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, while on the other it was "irresponsible not to alert people to the possibility, so no one can say they did not see it coming".
!
However, he said South Africa had a history of conspiracie! s that h ad not led to action, like the one that when former President Nelson Mandela left office, "whites would die like flies".
A recent survey of 6,636 participants on the quality of life in Gauteng, the country's richest province, by the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO), a provincial government think-tank, in partnership with two of Johannesburg's universities, found that the xenophobic streak running through South African society was not confined to poor and marginalised communities.
Prof David Everatt, the GCRO's executive director, told local media that 73 percent of the participants with tertiary education thought "foreigners are taking benefits meant for South Africans", while three-quarters of those without tertiary education believed this was an accurate assessment. Everatt commented: "If the attitudes of xenophobia remain ... we have a problem."
Source Url: http://allafrica.com/! stories/201005271112.html
http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=78042&
Calling for the killing of White babies in South Africa: really sick
Some may take offense that I am posting such a feed as this next article but I have always believed that there are two sides to every story and Southern Africa is no exception. One can almost say the tables have been reversed and that those who supported and kept the apartheid system for so long are reaping what they have sown from their past history. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Somalia and so many other states in Africa are in turmoil and on the edge of what may be an all out war, or civil war.
Blacks call for the Extermination of White South Africans - One Bullet, One Baby - Murder the White Babies!
By: JanOlifantThis is just another instance where blacks are rallying and promoting extermination of South Africa's White minority. The calls by Mr Sodo to kill White babies is one that strikes horror and reflects to crazed mentality that is seeing dozens of Whites being exterminated in South Africa every week. Not only is this a case of incitement to violence, and hate speech among others, but this is clearly a case of TERRORISM! Thats right, according to states such as the United States and United Kingdom, Terrorism is an act which seeks to strike terror into a population by acts of violence (or threat thereof) for political purposes.
Now, when Mr Sodo calls for white babies to be murdered, mothers and parents especially fear for the lives of their children, terrorizing countless White families, all so that Mr Sodo can achieve some sick political goal (extermination of whites). I call on South Africans to report Mr Sodo to the South African Police on charges of hate speech and incitement to extreme violence. It is a fact that when such messages of incitement are broadcasted, they are acted out, as was the recent case involving Malema's call to Murder Boers...which to no surprise led to an increase in farm attacks. Acts of Racial Terrorism is being carried out against South Africa's White's! We demand action!!
What is even more worrying is the fact that when brave people such as Mr Kriek attempt to expose these CRIMES, they are being threatened and called names, namely by Mr Andile Motama a columnist for the Mail & Guardian. Janolifant]
---
[I've heard a variant of this before, from America where they say the whites should be killed, dug up out of their graves and killed again. This is no doubt inspiration for this black racist. This guy should be investigated to see what his political affiliations are an if he is a member of the ANC Youth League perhaps. I would not be surprised if this were so. He might be a student and follower of Julius Malema. Jan]
-
May 30 2010 - “It’s with utter disgust that I once again see how black youths promoting violence and the genocide of the Afrikaner whites in South-Africa. I now present the latest case of black-on-white racism by one Mr Nceba Sodo. This individual has published three notes under his personal facebook profile and since he sees it necessary to promote racism, his three notes will be published here with explanations’ from me on the topic. The comment under these notes have been screenshot-saved and will also be displayed underneath each note,” writes Mr Jean Kriek, the leader of the Freedom Front Plus youth branch in Gauteng on his facebook page:
Mr Kriek writes that he has already phoned Mr. Nceba Sodo’s employers (Safmarine in Port Elizabeth) and “have demanded that appropriate action is taken in regards to this case. I will also be opening a case against Mr. Nceba Sodo for hate speech. “
Kind Regards and God bless !
Jean Kriek
FF+ Gauteng Youth
"n Colomist vir die Mail & Gaurdian n Mnr Andile Motama het my nou net geskakel oor my artikel oor Nceba Sodo se rasissme tenoor wit mense. Hy het my gedreig dat as eenigiets met Nceba gebeur ek persoonlik verantwoordelikheid gaan vat en dat hulle hulself sal verdedig. Hy het my n wit rassis hobo genoem oor ek opstaan ...vir vryheid en geregtigheid in n Republiek wat belowe dat rassisme iets van die verlede is."- Mr Jean Kriek
“ONE BULLET – ONE WHITE INFANT…”
This is Mr Nceba Sodo. He posted the hatespeech messages and photographs below.
A picture of a white baby with the comment of Mr. Nceba Sodo that “What can we (blacks) do to protect our kids from these little young white babies who will soon grow up and oppress and kill our black babies ?”
Here follows the comments from Nceba Sodo and his Facebook members:”
Nceba Sodo: What can we do to protect our black babies from these future oppressors and racists????
Mfundo Dlungwane: “We have no choice but to kill the white babies, simply because they are goin to grow and oppress our babies, so we kill the white babies. When the rite time comes we’ll chop their heads off and they became headless little racist. ‘in the bible it says the sins of the fathers will fall onto the next generation,” we’’ ll be not only liberating what belongs to us, but also fulfilling prophecy, you know what I’m sayin…’
Nceba Sodo: “Well said Mfundo. The Bible says: ‘you shall reap what you sow.’ The seed of racism, hatred, colonialism and Apartheid was sown yesterday and today is the harvest time, so let the white infants/babies reap the harvest that their forefathers have planted. I fully agree with you, kill them before they grow and oppress our babies.’
Mfundo Dlungwane - “Amen, Aluta continues. It ain’t over till we even… One bullet one white infant’ .
Nceba Sodo: “One bullet one white infant, one rope one sellout’ …
‘WE MUST DIG UP TERRE’BLANCHE’S GRAVE AND KILL HIM AGAIN… HE DIDN’T DIE HARD ENOUGH… WE NEED TO CUT HIS WIFE IN HALF AND FEED HER TO THE WILD DOGS… KILL THEM ALL…”
Eugene Terre Blanche
http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=76840&
Are these the final days for whites in South Africa?
Here is a very alarming report from AfricanCrisis. This is from my contact in Zimbabwe. This is news we seldom hear about in our sanitized, MSM, Gov't enhanced news. Many might say say well, this is just pay back for apartheid and all the atrocities that white people were guilty of. Oh really? So compounding wrongs make it right? This is about a most vile and corrupt government that is silently waging what I call genocide against the remnants of the the white population in South Africa. Productive farmland now lies in ruin, much of it not even being worked.
"Since Terre’Blanche’s murder the farm attacks have continued unabated. Last week another two white farmers were killed in separate attacks.
“The murder of TB [Terre’Blanche] was planned. They start singing ‘kill the boer’ — then the most famous boer of the lot is murdered. I did not support him, but do not tell me it is not linked,” said Ian Bothma, 47, a tradesman from Terre’Blanche’s home town who has recently applied to emigrate to Australia. “We are now in the final days of white life in this country.”
The Government points out that blacks are also the targets of farm attacks; black unions, for their part, emphasise that, 16 years after the end of apartheid, many black farm workers are still ill treated, with their white employers accused of fuelling the violence by paying derisory wages and using illegal migrant labour.
At the root of the problem is the Government’s failure to carry out land reforms that meet black aspirations without destroying the productive agricultural sector. It wants at least one third of productive farm land to be in black hands by 2014 but is way off target. The land bank set up to finance farm purchases is broke; fleeced by its own managers, with a corruption investigation under way.
Manie Potgieter
S.Africa: “We are now in the final days of white life in this country.” - UK's Times Report
Opening comment is by Jan of AfricanCrisis.
AfricanCrisis; [Too bad the British never mentioned to us it might be like this one day when they were so busy pushing for the previous Govt to hand over power to the ANC. Anyhow, let's at least be tremendously grateful that more than 25 years later... the TRUTH is finally dawning on the British. Jan]
The gunman leant forward and pushed the pistol hard into Manie Potgieter’s neck. “Listen, you white bastard,” he whispered, his breath heavy with alcohol. “I have Aids. We are now going to rape your wife and give her Aids too. Then, we kill you, got it?”
From his position on the floor, hands tied behind his back, he could hear his assailant’s three accomplices pulling the tracksuit bottoms off his wife, Helena, 28.
“I was sure they were going to shoot me, but I just prayed she would be OK. She was telling me in Afrikaans not to worry. I just prayed,” Mr Potgieter, 30, a blond giant of a man, told The Times.
Suddenly, a clang of metal echoed through the early morning air — and the attackers took fright. They had been in the remote farmhouse for an hour and dawn was fast approaching. “Let’s go, someone is coming,” one of them shouted in panic. Without firing a shot they were suddenly gone.
The Potgieters’ nightmare was over — but it was one of the very few happy endings to a spate of attacks on South Africa’s white Afrikaner farming communities in which an estimated 3,000 people have been killed since 1994.
On another farm, a few miles away, Louis Boshoff, 65, and his wife, Elsabe, 57, were not so lucky. A few months ago, Mr Boshoff arose early one morning, as he has done for almost 47 years, to milk his small dairy herd.
“Two men were hiding in one of the outdoor sheds. They had balaclavas on and came at me. One had a gun and the other a catapult with ball bearings as shot,” he said.
When one of them fired at his barking dogs, Mr Boshoff saw red and tried to rush them, but he was shot twice. He lost his spleen, most of his pancreas and half his liver. His wife rushed to be at his side, tripped and suffered a broken leg.
The subject of attacks on white farmers is deeply disliked by the ruling African National Congress for the unflattering comparisons that it brings with neighbouring Zimbabwe, but it has come to the fore since the murder of the white supremacist leader Eugène Terre’Blanche a month ago. That incident followed a sharp deterioration in race relations after Julius Malema, the outspoken leader of the ANC’s Youth League, started singing at rallies an old anti-apartheid struggle song that includes the words “shoot the boer [farmer]”.
The High Court banned the song but the ruling is now under appeal. Mr Malema faces an ANC disciplinary hearing after he defied orders and continued to sing the song while visiting Zimbabwe, where he praised President Mugabe for land reform policies, under which 4,000 white commercial farmers have been driven off the land in the past decade.
Since Terre’Blanche’s murder the farm attacks have continued unabated. Last week another two white farmers were killed in separate attacks.
“The murder of TB [Terre’Blanche] was planned. They start singing ‘kill the boer’ — then the most famous boer of the lot is murdered. I did not support him, but do not tell me it is not linked,” said Ian Bothma, 47, a tradesman from Terre’Blanche’s home town who has recently applied to emigrate to Australia. “We are now in the final days of white life in this country.”
The Government points out that blacks are also the targets of farm attacks; black unions, for their part, emphasise that, 16 years after the end of apartheid, many black farm workers are still ill treated, with their white employers accused of fuelling the violence by paying derisory wages and using illegal migrant labour.
At the root of the problem is the Government’s failure to carry out land reforms that meet black aspirations without destroying the productive agricultural sector. It wants at least one third of productive farm land to be in black hands by 2014 but is way off target. The land bank set up to finance farm purchases is broke; fleeced by its own managers, with a corruption investigation under way.
Andre Botha, chairman of Agriculture South Africa’s rural safety committee, told parliament recently that the biggest challenge facing the industry was “irresponsible remarks” by officials and politicians. “If we are excluded from being South African then there is a big question mark put on democracy,” he said.
Last week, President Zuma promised that there would be no Zimbabwean-style land grabs — but most whites are not convinced. “I was born and bred here but it is time to go,” Mr Bothma said. “It is unfair to inflict such a future on our children.”
Land in crisis
40,000 farmers in South Africa
3,000 farmers murdered since the end of apartheid
800,000 white South Africans out of a total of 4.4 million have emigrated since 1995
200,000 hectares of abandoned farmland has been leased by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to farmers fleeing South Africa
87% of agricultural land was owned by whites at the end of the apartheid era
30% of land must be in black hands by 2014, if government targets for land reform are to be met
2% of land has changed hands so far, with funds for further purchases having dried up and a corruption inquiry under way
20% of South Africans of all races want to emigrate, with 95 per cent of those naming violent crime as the single most important factor
Here is the link to the Times Online article
Thanks to Jan at AfricanCrisis
"Since Terre’Blanche’s murder the farm attacks have continued unabated. Last week another two white farmers were killed in separate attacks.
“The murder of TB [Terre’Blanche] was planned. They start singing ‘kill the boer’ — then the most famous boer of the lot is murdered. I did not support him, but do not tell me it is not linked,” said Ian Bothma, 47, a tradesman from Terre’Blanche’s home town who has recently applied to emigrate to Australia. “We are now in the final days of white life in this country.”
The Government points out that blacks are also the targets of farm attacks; black unions, for their part, emphasise that, 16 years after the end of apartheid, many black farm workers are still ill treated, with their white employers accused of fuelling the violence by paying derisory wages and using illegal migrant labour.
At the root of the problem is the Government’s failure to carry out land reforms that meet black aspirations without destroying the productive agricultural sector. It wants at least one third of productive farm land to be in black hands by 2014 but is way off target. The land bank set up to finance farm purchases is broke; fleeced by its own managers, with a corruption investigation under way.
Manie Potgieter
S.Africa: “We are now in the final days of white life in this country.” - UK's Times Report
Opening comment is by Jan of AfricanCrisis.
AfricanCrisis; [Too bad the British never mentioned to us it might be like this one day when they were so busy pushing for the previous Govt to hand over power to the ANC. Anyhow, let's at least be tremendously grateful that more than 25 years later... the TRUTH is finally dawning on the British. Jan]
The gunman leant forward and pushed the pistol hard into Manie Potgieter’s neck. “Listen, you white bastard,” he whispered, his breath heavy with alcohol. “I have Aids. We are now going to rape your wife and give her Aids too. Then, we kill you, got it?”
From his position on the floor, hands tied behind his back, he could hear his assailant’s three accomplices pulling the tracksuit bottoms off his wife, Helena, 28.
“I was sure they were going to shoot me, but I just prayed she would be OK. She was telling me in Afrikaans not to worry. I just prayed,” Mr Potgieter, 30, a blond giant of a man, told The Times.
Suddenly, a clang of metal echoed through the early morning air — and the attackers took fright. They had been in the remote farmhouse for an hour and dawn was fast approaching. “Let’s go, someone is coming,” one of them shouted in panic. Without firing a shot they were suddenly gone.
The Potgieters’ nightmare was over — but it was one of the very few happy endings to a spate of attacks on South Africa’s white Afrikaner farming communities in which an estimated 3,000 people have been killed since 1994.
On another farm, a few miles away, Louis Boshoff, 65, and his wife, Elsabe, 57, were not so lucky. A few months ago, Mr Boshoff arose early one morning, as he has done for almost 47 years, to milk his small dairy herd.
“Two men were hiding in one of the outdoor sheds. They had balaclavas on and came at me. One had a gun and the other a catapult with ball bearings as shot,” he said.
When one of them fired at his barking dogs, Mr Boshoff saw red and tried to rush them, but he was shot twice. He lost his spleen, most of his pancreas and half his liver. His wife rushed to be at his side, tripped and suffered a broken leg.
The subject of attacks on white farmers is deeply disliked by the ruling African National Congress for the unflattering comparisons that it brings with neighbouring Zimbabwe, but it has come to the fore since the murder of the white supremacist leader Eugène Terre’Blanche a month ago. That incident followed a sharp deterioration in race relations after Julius Malema, the outspoken leader of the ANC’s Youth League, started singing at rallies an old anti-apartheid struggle song that includes the words “shoot the boer [farmer]”.
The High Court banned the song but the ruling is now under appeal. Mr Malema faces an ANC disciplinary hearing after he defied orders and continued to sing the song while visiting Zimbabwe, where he praised President Mugabe for land reform policies, under which 4,000 white commercial farmers have been driven off the land in the past decade.
Since Terre’Blanche’s murder the farm attacks have continued unabated. Last week another two white farmers were killed in separate attacks.
“The murder of TB [Terre’Blanche] was planned. They start singing ‘kill the boer’ — then the most famous boer of the lot is murdered. I did not support him, but do not tell me it is not linked,” said Ian Bothma, 47, a tradesman from Terre’Blanche’s home town who has recently applied to emigrate to Australia. “We are now in the final days of white life in this country.”
The Government points out that blacks are also the targets of farm attacks; black unions, for their part, emphasise that, 16 years after the end of apartheid, many black farm workers are still ill treated, with their white employers accused of fuelling the violence by paying derisory wages and using illegal migrant labour.
At the root of the problem is the Government’s failure to carry out land reforms that meet black aspirations without destroying the productive agricultural sector. It wants at least one third of productive farm land to be in black hands by 2014 but is way off target. The land bank set up to finance farm purchases is broke; fleeced by its own managers, with a corruption investigation under way.
Andre Botha, chairman of Agriculture South Africa’s rural safety committee, told parliament recently that the biggest challenge facing the industry was “irresponsible remarks” by officials and politicians. “If we are excluded from being South African then there is a big question mark put on democracy,” he said.
Last week, President Zuma promised that there would be no Zimbabwean-style land grabs — but most whites are not convinced. “I was born and bred here but it is time to go,” Mr Bothma said. “It is unfair to inflict such a future on our children.”
Land in crisis
40,000 farmers in South Africa
3,000 farmers murdered since the end of apartheid
800,000 white South Africans out of a total of 4.4 million have emigrated since 1995
200,000 hectares of abandoned farmland has been leased by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to farmers fleeing South Africa
87% of agricultural land was owned by whites at the end of the apartheid era
30% of land must be in black hands by 2014, if government targets for land reform are to be met
2% of land has changed hands so far, with funds for further purchases having dried up and a corruption inquiry under way
20% of South Africans of all races want to emigrate, with 95 per cent of those naming violent crime as the single most important factor
Here is the link to the Times Online article
Thanks to Jan at AfricanCrisis
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