Farmers in South Africa are being attacked and killed in complete disproportionate numbers, and that these attacks are committed in a very brutal fashion. Many of them are committed to, or subjected to, hours of torture…
AfriForum, Mr. Ernst Roets: United Nations – The exercise of police powers – 8th session of the Forum on Minority Issues.
Transcription of the video:
Thank you Chairperson and our report and our brief presentation has been filed already, but I feel unfortunately that it is more important for me to respond to some of the statements that were made yesterday by the South African representative regarding this issue.
The representative of South Africa said that “Those who call for prioritizing farm murders in South Africa are doing so because they are apartheid sympathizers.”. I find this extremely insulting and I think it’s not only a violation of my right to human dignity but also to our rights as a minority community.
The representative also suggested that we are calling for prioritizing of these attacks or of crime on a race basis, which is blatantly false, and furthermore it was argued that it doesn’t make sense to draw a distinction or to prioritize a particular type of crime within a broader crimes category. I find this strange because it means that the South African government is very inconsistent with the approach because it’s easy for the South African government to prioritize the killing of the poaching of rhinoceroses. It’s easy for the South African government dispatched more police officials to black townships, where there is a high crime rate, and we support that. It’s easy for the South African government to draw up a counter strategy, where police officials are being killed in disproportionate numbers.
In South Africa, it’s twice as dangerous to be a farmer than a police official, but when we talk about farm murders, all of a sudden, the response is that it doesn’t make sense to prioritize these attacks. Recently the President of South Africa said in Parliament and I quote
“We have more rights because we are the majority, you have less rights because you are a minority. Absolutely, that is how democracy works.”
The reality is that farmers in South Africa are being attacked and killed in complete disproportionate numbers, and that these attacks are committed in a very brutal fashion.
Many of them are committed to, or subjected to, hours of torture.
Potgieter was stabbed 151 times with a garden fork while his two-year-old girl had to watch.
Johan Strydom was tied behind a pickup truck and dragged over a dirt road until his organs burst.
Annetjie van Rooyen was still alive when she was stuck in a deep freeze.
Rodger van Parys had a samurai sword pushed down his throat.
And still we don’t get reaction from the South African government regarding these attacks.
What we do however get, and it’s on record, that some of the victims have been mocked and ridiculed by representatives of the South African government. As a matter of fact the spokesperson for the Minister of police issued a press statement saying it’s only a publicity stunts when the victims call for prioritizing of these attacks.
Mr. Chairperson I have to go back and report to our constituency what is being done about this problem, and I come here to find the South African representative saying that the people who want these crimes to be prioritized are only doing so because we want to bring apartheid back
I find it offensive, and I wish to state for the record, that is not case, and I wish to call on the representatives here to take note of this problem. Thank you very much.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
