Farm Murders Continue To Raise Fears In South Africa As Latest Farmer Brutally Attacked

In the most recent farm murders, 77-year-old Hein Smith was attacked and beaten in his home. Smith was later taken to the hospital after a neighbor called him and couldn’t reach him. He later died in the hospital. Smith lived alone in the Free State.

Colonel Annelie Wrench told News24 that Smith was brutally attacked and beaten.

“He was visiting friends last night [Saturday] and according to what we suspect, the killers waited for him and then attacked him when he came home. They severely assaulted him and tied his hands behind his back, and left him in the veld 700m to 800m from the farm house.”

The activist group AfriForum and the agricultural union TAU UA recently announced that there had been 27 farm murders and 116 attacks since the beginning of 2015. The statistics they released also suggest that at least 1,747 farm murders and 3,542 attacks have taken place since 1990. With only about 30,000 farmers in South Africa, means that about five percent of farmers in South Africa have been murdered, and farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in South Africa.

General Chris van Zyl, an Assistant Head Manager of TAU SA, told SA Promo Magazine that Limpopo replaced Gauteng as the province where most farm murders took place. KwaZulu-Natal came in second followed by Gauteng, the Free State, Eastern Cape, North West, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, and the Western Cape. He also stated that farm attacks were now more brutal and more likely to be fatal.

Ernst Roets, Deputy CEO of AfriForum, said that farmers were being discriminated against by the government, and that it was time to declare farm murders a high-priority crime. He named four reasons why farm murders needed to be prioritized that included the frequency and brutality of attacks, the role of farmers in South Africa, and the location of farms where the attacks and farm murders take place. Both organizations indicated a need to put international pressure on the government to stop farm murders, as well as getting the government involved.

Henk van de Graaf, another Assistant Head Manager of TAU SA, said that the government needed to provide support in order to put an end the brutal attacks and farm murders.

“We can be part of the solution, but only if the government supports us. Till then we will have to continue to put international pressure on them. The SA government must be forced to take action.”

Less than 24 percent of farm murders result in convictions, and farmers are left to find ways to protect themselves including neighborhood watches and community empowerment. The TAU UA has worked since 2012 to bring international awareness to the issue of farm murders in South Africa. As previously reported in Inquisitr, the issue of farm murders and white genocide has been forgotten by the world because of the xenophobic attacks against immigrants.

What do you think is the best way to stop farm murders in South Africa?

[Photo Credit Liberty Voice]