Campaign against farm attacks kicks off with Tell Your Story project
The Solidarity Movement (specifically trade union Solidarity, AfriForum, Kraal-Uitgewers and the Solidarity Research Institute) released a ten-point action plan as part of the Movement’s campaign to protest against farm attacks at a joint media conference today. The aim of the campaign is to force the government to classify farm attacks as a priority crime; to have specialists units for rural safety set up in the South African Police Service (SAPS); and to provide support to communities who are affected by farm attacks.
The ten-point plan entails, among other things, a process of raising awareness and gaining support for the demands locally and internationally; a petition on farm attacks; collaboration with the government and stakeholders in the agricultural sector; and various actions to commemorate the victims, living and dead, of farm attacks. Further, it involves a legal strategy, a strong research component and support for local communities. The campaign will run for the remainder of the year.
The first leg of the campaign, called Tell Your Story, was also launched today. This project involves giving the public an opportunity to speak about their personal experiences of farms attacks and to have the attacks recorded for inclusion in a ‘book memorial’ later this year. More than 2 600 farm attacks have already been catalogued and were listed in the book Land of Sorrow last year. A moving video on farm attacks was also released today. The video can be viewed on AfriForum’s YouTube channel. (To watch the video, click here.)
The Solidarity Movement’s campaign against farm attacks comes in response to the new spate of farm attacks that has occurred since the beginning of the year and the government’s inability to deal with the problem. According to Dr Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity, the Solidarity Movement is seeking a practical solution for farm attacks. ‘Our demands are simple and carrying out or demands could have a definite and direct impact on the way in which the problem of farm attacks is dealt with in South Africa. It is impossible to wipe out crime, but we must at least look at creative ways of tackling farm attacks,’ Hermann said.
Hermann emphasised that the campaign against farm attacks is an indictment of the government and the SAPS because of their inability to find and implement solutions. To date, nothing has come of the police’s new promises, made earlier this year, of the imminent release of a revised rural safety plan.
In the meantime, at least 2 617 separate farm attacks, in which some 1 445 people were murdered, are on record and still it seems that the government is not realising the seriousness of the situation.
The list is based on a database of farm attacks that TAU SA has been keeping since 1990. The attacks listed are mainly ones that were reported on in the media. Hermann emphasised that the existing list is by no means complete and therefore it is hoped that the Tell Your Story project will lead to a more comprehensive record being obtained of farm attacks.
