INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Farm Attacks In South Africa Increase As Farms Become More Dangerous, ANC Loses Support

By Jinger Jarrett
Published on: 01:39 PST, Jul 5, 2016

With investment downgrades looming in the near future for South Africa, uncertainty has increased. The failure of the African National Congress (ANC) led government to deal effectively with farm attacks and murders has also contributed to the uncertainty. Farming in South Africa has become the most dangerous occupation in the world, and the government has failed to act to stop them.

Business Day Live reported that farm attacks in South Africa are on the rise. The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU SA), a farmers’ group in South Africa, said that there were 186 attacks and 39 farm murders so far in 2016, up from 131 farm attacks and 27 murders in the first six months of 2015. The province of Gauteng was hit the hardest with 14 murders, while the Eastern Cape has yet to record a murder this year. Gauteng is the most populous province in South Africa, followed by KwaZulu Natal.

As previously reported in The Inquisitr, farm attacks aren’t the only violent crimes that South Africans are facing. South Africa is considered to be the 19th most violent country in the world and the 10th most dangerous. Crime cost the country about $66.7 billion in 2015, which is about 19 percent of the GDP for South Africa.

Henry Geldenhuys‚ TAU SA’s deputy president and chairman of the organisation’s safety committee‚ said that he believed that the number of farm attacks and murders would double by the end of the year. TAU SA’s records indicate that there have been 1,824 farm murders over the last 26 years, with 1,170 of those being farmers. Currently South Africa has about 30,000 farmers countrywide and was once the bread basket of Africa. Now, South Africa has to import food.

Eyewitness News reported that the problems of farmers in South Africa have been compounded by the drought, and it has led to a decrease in employment. Statistics South Africa said that unemployment figures from the farm sector weren’t included in the latest employment figures, but the drought has contributed to the shrinking employment in South Africa, particularly in the farm sector.

Statistician-General Pali Lehohla said that the drought has caused major problems in unemployment.

“Manufacturing, mining, retail trade, hotels and the like are the only areas where there has been improvement in employment.”

Bloomberg reported that the ANC, the governing party since the end of apartheid in 1994, has been losing support. In addition to failing to deal with farm attacks and murders, as well as overall crime in South Africa, protests have sparked riots that have led to the further erosion of ANC support.

Violent protests erupted in the capital city of Pretoria over the mayoral candidate that had been selected. The news of the erosion of support for the ANC came from an eNCA public-opinion survey. Only 23 percent of those in Tshwane municipality who participated in the poll said that they would vote for an ANC candidate.

Since the riots have started, five people have died, and another 270 have been injured in the protests. The ANC has been losing support because of rising discontent over the lack of jobs, decent housing, and education. Crime has also contributed to the problem, and farm attacks and murders have only increased the number of issues the ANC has failed to deal with effectively. Support for the ANC has also dropped in Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa, as well.

[Photo by Pixabay]

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