More than 1 000 South Africans signed up in one day to become actively involved in AfriForum’s campaign against farm murders. These members of the public pledged their involvement through the website www.stopthemurders.co.za.
Ernst Roets, AfriForum’s Deputy CEO, said that they were most impressed by the enthusiasm the public showed to commit themselves and to physically do something about addressing the problems in the country.
‘This is not merely a petition by which support is shown, but it serves as a platform people can use to indicate their commitment by giving some of their time to the cause. We were surprised that the names streamed in thick and fast, which made us think people might be under the impression that it was just a petition. We then decided that the website should emphasise more strongly the fact that we are not running a petition here, but that it is actually a call for people who would be prepared to become physically involved in the campaign. Surprisingly, this addition to the webpage had the effect that the names started streaming in even faster,’ Roets said.
AfriForum launched the Stop the Murders Campaign on Tuesday evening in Pretoria. Many of the country’s famous Afrikaans artists, including Steve Hofmeyr, Chris Chameleon, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Pieter Koen, Gerrie Pretorius, Adam Tas and Ampie du Preez, have already pledged their support of the campaign. A dozen projects, full details of which are available on the webpage, were also announced.
Roets explained that, broadly speaking, the campaign stands on two legs. ‘On the one side we demand action from government. We will continue with our campaign and use the public in this effort until government prioritises farm murders and establishes specialist units for rural safety. On the other side, we are saying that we will not sit back and wait for government to act, but that we will, in a constructive way, assume the responsibility of ensuring our own safety by joining community safety networks.’
· In view of the fact that support for the campaign is still pouring in, AfriForum decided to wait until Monday before announcing the first project which will involve the public.
