Genuine genocide or a farce? What farmers at Nampo think of Trump's refugee offer
'Obviously, genocide is a broad word. It is not a mass genocide like the Holocaust,' said one farmer
South Africa's premier agricultural fair showcased livestock, massive tractors and rows of pick-up trucks Thursday, a paradise for Afrikaner farmers who are divided over President Donald Trump's claims of persecution.
In trademark khaki shorts and caps, hundreds of farmers gathered at the annual Nampo show in Bothaville, some 220 kilometres (135 miles) south of Johannesburg, days after a first group of Afrikaners were welcomed into the United States as 'refugees'.
'There is no doubt there is a genocide in South Africa,' said maize farmer John Potgieter, echoing false claims made by Trump in attacks on the South African government and its policies.
'It's not a mass genocide like the Holocaust'
Pointing to a nearby monument listing the names of farmers killed in attacks since the 1960s, the 31-year-old insisted that the white Afrikaner minority was a target in the black-majority country.
'Obviously, genocide is a broad word. It is not a mass genocide like the Holocaust,' Potgieter conceded.
A murder rate that averages 75 a day is among South Africa's grim statistics. Most of those who are killed are young black men in urban areas, even if attacks on farms are a harsh reality.
Experts say about 50 farmers from all racial groups are killed annually.
'It is much safer in a farm than in a town,' said sheep and goat farmer Eduard van der Westhuizen.
'There are problems, murders sometimes, but it is not targeted,' he said, holding a shepherd's crook.
'I won't go anywhere else, this is my country, I love it,' he added.
ALSO READ: Will Trump embarrass SA at White House meeting?
Government says no persecution
South Africa protested after 49 white Afrikaners flew out of Johannesburg on Monday, accepting Trump's offer of refuge.
'They can't provide any proof of any persecution because there is not any form of persecution to white South Africans or to Afrikaners South Africans,' Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told reporters.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is to meet Trump in Washington next week, has dismissed the claims of genocide as politically motivated, with the countries at odds over a range of policy issues.
'There is no genocide here. We are beautiful, happy people, black and white working and living together,' Ramaphosa said this week.
ALSO READ: Trump administration slams church for refusing to resettle white South Africans in America
Resettlement 'a farce'
Held in the heart of South Africa's maize, sunflower and sorghum farming district, this year's Nampo boasted over 900 exhibitors, including dealers in handguns and AR-15 automatic rifles.
Gun sales had increased in areas that had seen farm attacks, said Willem Jordaan, head of marketing at Dave Sheer Guns.
'It's important to have a means of self-defence,' he told AFP.
But Trump's invitation to white Afrikaners to settle was a 'farce', said a farm equipment dealer with a silver moustache.
For Danny Snyman, 18, Trump had raised awareness about the issues in South Africa, admitting, though, he had never heard of any murders, only 'lots of stealing'.
The rookie farmer said he was attracted by opportunities in the United States.
'I would definitely go overseas, maybe to tour and see what it is like and maybe go work there for a month or two, but yeah, I'd probably come back,' he said.
The US president's claims that white Afrikaners face 'unjust racial discrimination' come with ties between Pretoria and Washington at a low over policy issues, including the war in Ukraine.
Land ownership remains one of South Africa's most sensitive post-apartheid issues, with the white community, around eight percent of the population, owning more than three-quarters of farms.
Afrikaner-led governments imposed the brutal race-based apartheid system that denied the black majority political and economic rights until it was voted out in 1994.
© Agence France-Presse
NOW READ: Afrikaner claims of persecution are a fat lie
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