I am truly against the spate of attacks on foreigners and believe the lack of strong action by our government (in both protecting our borders and stopping the attacks) is a clear contributor to the situation.
It is however extremely encouraging to witness the strong stand made by bodies such as LeadSA and others against these horrific actions. This, reassuringly just makes it very clear that for every “wrotten apple” in our nation there are 50 great South Africans.
Now, another extremely concerning activity that has grabbed hold of our country over the last 15 years is the continued attacks on farms which results in gruesome murders on both farm owners and farm workers.
Depending on the source you wish to believe, there have been 12 and 26 murders of farm owners and workers PER MONTH from 1990 until 2012. Which obviously does not include the number of robberies and rapes that take place daily.
As stated before, I am fully behind the efforts to stop the attacks on foreigners, but what I’m unable to comprehend the lack of uproar by these same bodies against farm attacks.
What makes it worse (in my opinion of course), is that the people that are standing up against it are summarily dismissed as “crack pots” and racists not worthy of being taken seriously.
Folks, does no-one see how wrong and dangerous this is?
If we believe that the xenophobic situation holds dire consequences for our nation, we need to take a step back and consider how farm attacks are slowly but surely ripping this nation apart and driving it towards a very real tipping point.
By – Cornu Perold
South Africa Today – South Africa News
