FARMERS want the government to subsidise them so they can buy guns to protect themselves during farm attacks.
This was the submission by an ex-SA Defence Force (SADF) major-general and Transvaal Agricultural Union's (TAU) assistant policy liaison general manager retired Major-General Chris van Zyl.
He was speaking during the first round of the Human Rights Commission's national hearings on the safety and security challenges in farming communities in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Van Zyl, a senior officer at the then Eastern Transvaal Command in the late 1980s and early 1990s, proposed that the state subsidised farmers to buy security systems, including firearms, to improve their safety.
He said "consideration of the possibility to subsidise the acquisition of related alarm and security systems as well as appropriate firearms suitable for self-defence against criminals often armed with semi-automatic weapons" would be appropriate.
The hearing also heard that since 1990, 72 black farmers and 117 farmworkers have been killed. Overall, there have been 1734 murders and 3341 attacks on farms between 1990 and this past Monday.
National African Farmers Union (Nafu) president Motsepe Matlala said it was a myth that farm violence was racially motivated. "It affects both black and white farmers and farmworkers," Matlala said.
However, he conceded that racial disharmony was a contributing factor.
"The prevailing economic situation, which means farmworkers' wages are dismal, also contributes."
Van Zyl said 1043 white farmers and 437 of their wives and relatives have died on South African farms since 1990.
However, he described the statistics as a conservative reflection of reality.
Van Zyl, who was in the SADF and the SA National Defence Force for 36 years, also blames a 1986 Radio Freedom broadcast - saying farmers are legitimate targets for MK operatives in the fight against apartheid - for the violence in farming communities. "Some still believe farmers are legitimate targets because of a 1986 Radio Freedom broadcast."
He said the broadcast, aired in October that year on the ANC's radio station, condemned "racist farmers notorious for their brutal oppression and exploitation of African labour".
"Sabotage his farming operations. Destroy his crops. Sabotage his implements and machinery," the broadcast continued.
It called on farmworkers to make the countryside "safe for us (Umkhonto weSizwe) and hell for the enemy".
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko's spokesman Musa Zondi said questions on Van Zyl's proposal should be directed to National Commissioner General Riah Phiyega.
Phiyega's spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said police still had to make presentations at the hearings and did not want to create a parallel process by responding to TAU and Nafu's proposals through the media.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Farmers want subsidy for guns - firearms to be used for self-defence
FARMERS want the government to subsidise them so they can buy guns to protect themselves during farm attacks.
This was the submission by an ex-SA Defence Force (SADF) major-general and Transvaal Agricultural Union's (TAU) assistant policy liaison general manager retired Major-General Chris van Zyl.
He was speaking during the first round of the Human Rights Commission's national hearings on the safety and security challenges in farming communities in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Van Zyl, a senior officer at the then Eastern Transvaal Command in the late 1980s and early 1990s, proposed that the state subsidised farmers to buy security systems, including firearms, to improve their safety.
He said "consideration of the possibility to subsidise the acquisition of related alarm and security systems as well as appropriate firearms suitable for self-defence against criminals often armed with semi-automatic weapons" would be appropriate.
The hearing also heard that since 1990, 72 black farmers and 117 farmworkers have been killed. Overall, there have been 1734 murders and 3341 attacks on farms between 1990 and this past Monday.
National African Farmers Union (Nafu) president Motsepe Matlala said it was a myth that farm violence was racially motivated. "It affects both black and white farmers and farmworkers," Matlala said.
However, he conceded that racial disharmony was a contributing factor.
"The prevailing economic situation, which means farmworkers' wages are dismal, also contributes."
Van Zyl said 1043 white farmers and 437 of their wives and relatives have died on South African farms since 1990.
However, he described the statistics as a conservative reflection of reality.
Van Zyl, who was in the SADF and the SA National Defence Force for 36 years, also blames a 1986 Radio Freedom broadcast - saying farmers are legitimate targets for MK operatives in the fight against apartheid - for the violence in farming communities. "Some still believe farmers are legitimate targets because of a 1986 Radio Freedom broadcast."
He said the broadcast, aired in October that year on the ANC's radio station, condemned "racist farmers notorious for their brutal oppression and exploitation of African labour".
"Sabotage his farming operations. Destroy his crops. Sabotage his implements and machinery," the broadcast continued.
It called on farmworkers to make the countryside "safe for us (Umkhonto weSizwe) and hell for the enemy".
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko's spokesman Musa Zondi said questions on Van Zyl's proposal should be directed to National Commissioner General Riah Phiyega.
Phiyega's spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said police still had to make presentations at the hearings and did not want to create a parallel process by responding to TAU and Nafu's proposals through the media.
sidimbal@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos