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Fox News
3 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
South Africa's high violence and land debates clash with Western media views
President Donald Trump's recent interventions on South Africa have been met with outrage in the liberal media, and its 'fact-checking' machinery has been put into overdrive scrutinizing every misstatement or exaggeration of the president. Yet, on the essential issues it is Western audiences who are being misled by progressive journalists whose views are, in turn, dramatically out of step with ordinary South African Africa is a violent society. Since it became a democracy in 1994, over 650,000 South Africans have been murdered. That is more than the number of intentional homicides across the Western world over the same period even though the population of the West approaches 1 billion people while that of South Africa is closer to 60 million. On a per-capita basis, that amounts to a murder rate of around 40 per 100,000 for South Africa, while the global rate is closer to six per 100,000. TRUMP'S CRITICISM OF SOUTH AFRICA'S VIOLENT CRIME CRISIS RECEIVES UNEXPECTED LOCAL SUPPORTIn that already violent climate, armed raids on commercial farmsteads have, over the past three decades, occurred at a multiple of the rate of similar attacks (essentially armed home invasion robberies) across the broader population. In addition, we calculate that roughly 20% of armed raids on farmsteads have resulted in murder as opposed to under 2% for similar attacks elsewhere. We also judge that the rate of attack on Black commercial producers is similar to that faced by their white Black and White South Africans alike live amidst such violence, murderous chant, 'Kill the Boer, Kill the farmer,' that Trump played at length during an Oval Office meeting with his South African counterpart last week, meets with strong popular disapproval locally. An April 2025 poll found that 80% of South Africans either disapprove of the chant, regard it as hate speech or believe that it should be banned. Western audiences may have been told that the chant is purely a metaphorical 'anti-apartheid' song, but it was, in fact, first taught to guerrillas during the armed struggle against White rule in both Rhodesia and South Africa, where farmers were regarded as legitimate military targets. Western audiences are commonly informed that white South Africans, who make up just 7% of South Africa's population, own "three-quarters" of agricultural land whereas black South Africans own just "4%". These figures are misdirection. The bulk of White land holdings are in the arid western half of the country. These are areas where the terrain, climate, and population density is similar to that of Arizona, Nevada, or New Mexico. Across the high rainfall and densely populated east of the country approximately half of land by productive value is in black possession, although not ownership. The reason for this is that the South African government continues to deny individual title across many Black communities preferring instead that land be held by the state or its proxies as a means of social and political control. Granting individual title would significantly shift land ownership patterns. The belief that land ownership patterns, as they are, represent a national crisis might be popular in Western media but is not a view held by South Africans themselves. A recent poll found that top of the list of local concerns was job creation, mentioned by over 20% of respondents as South Africa's single most important challenge. 'Promoting access to land' came far down the list, being mentioned by less than 5% of respondents. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONFinally, a recently enacted piece of expropriation legislation, which has drawn the particular attention of the Trump administration, is not a benign 'eminent domain' measure, as it is presented. It allows any organ of state to seize any kind of property - not just land – for below its market value. A recent poll found that this idea is opposed by just under 70% of South Africans and it is seen as a measure that will be abused by the notoriously corrupt political class. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPAt odds with elite opinion in the West the American administration's concerns around violence, property rights, and economic progress in South Africa resonate closely with the concerns of South Africans themselves who are in the main a pragmatic and conservative people sharing in many of the democratic values held dear by Americans.
Mail & Guardian
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu debunks Trump's ‘white genocide' claims in quarterly crime report
South Africa's new police minister, Senzo Mchunu While the police department does not categorise crimes by race, two of the farm owners who were murdered during the fourth quarter of the 2024-25 financial year were black, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says. Presenting the latest quarterly crime statistics, covering the period from January to the end of March, on Friday, Mchunu said there have been six farm attacks this year affecting two farm owners, one farm dweller, two employees and one manager. He said this was a decrease from 12 attacks during the same period last year, in line with a The quarterly statistics come two days after President Cyril Ramaphosa led a South African delegation to the White House where US President Donald Trump At Friday's briefing, Mchunu said the term 'genocide' has been forcefully introduced in the conversation about crime with false material circulated in the media and at the White House. 'We have respect for the USA as a country, we have respect for the people in that country and for President Trump, but we have no respect for this genocide story, at all. It is totally unfounded and unsubstantiated,' he said. He said the pictures of crosses lining a roadside, used by Trump on Wednesday to back his accusations, flowed from a case in KwaZulu-Natal in which a farmer and his wife had been killed in their home in 2020. 'The incident sparked a very strong protest by the farming community. The crosses symbolised killings on farms over years, they are not graves,' Mchunu said. 'Three suspects were arrested and sentenced for their murder and they are in jail. This debunks the claim that nothing gets done when crime is committed.' Mchunu also noted police's rescue of an American pastor who was kidnapped in the Eastern Cape in April, with the suspects in that case also apprehended. 'We do not deny that the levels of crime in the country are high; we are very concerned. Crime cuts across all divides. We are currently intensifying the fight against crime and criminals,' he said. Mchunu said there had been significant decreases in most crime categories during the quarter under review, although gender-based violence continued to be a concern. Rape incidents increased in both Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which contributed 19.1% and 19.9%, respectively, to the national total, while the rest of the provinces recorded decreases. 'While we acknowledge that GBV+F [gender-based violence and femicide] affects all genders, women remain disproportionately affected by rape, assault GBH [with grievous bodily harm] and murder,' Mchunu said. 'Our resolve to fight GBV+F is unwavering. To this end, the justice, crime prevention and security cluster [in the cabinet] has launched a 90-day GBV+F blitz, which began on 1 May.' Only Northern Cape recorded an increase in murders to 12% of the national average while the high-crime provinces such Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, recorded slight dips. Mchunu said 22 police officers, six who were on duty and 16 who were off duty, were killed during the first quarter of the year, 10 of them in Gauteng. Since the start of the year, 178 757 suspects have been arrested, said Mchunu, adding that while the Illegal possession of firearms and ammunition remained one of the police's most pressing issues, with a 2.7% increase and 4 023 cases. Police destroyed 16 049 firearms in February and confiscated 1 641 illegal firearms and 24 288 rounds of ammunition during their Operation Shanela drive. Gauteng recorded the highest level of Stock theft fell 8.9% during the quarter, which Mchunu attributed to a meeting in the Free State attended by farmers from across the country. He highlighted a police operation in the Eastern Cape where 231 cattle worth R2.7 million, 81 sheep worth over R160 000 and 78 goats valued at over R150 000 were rescued in different parts of the province. He said the National Policing Policy approved by cabinet in May, Mchunu rejected media reports of rampant land grabs but said that sporadic unlawful land invasions did occur as a result of inequality. 'Land invasions are not government policy but are, by and large, acts of desperation for land by African people who find themselves landless and in need to settle,' he said, adding that land invasions warranted the country's expropriation policy to address the problem in a lawful and orderly manner. Mchunu said Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso would clarify the issue of land invasions next week. 'I do want to urge the public to exercise caution when consuming and sharing information, especially on social media platforms, where old or recycled news stories are often circulated to create panic,' Mchunu added.
South China Morning Post
23-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Trump drums up a fake genocide while sponsoring real one in Gaza
Long a staple of the North American far-right's racist ideology, the so-called white genocide in South Africa has made it into mainstream politics. That's thanks to Donald Trump, and his one-time bestie the billionaire Elon Musk. This week, the US president tried to repeat the fireworks that greeted Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office by blindsiding visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with slides showing alleged atrocities against white farmers. The televised meeting was supposed to focus on trade, especially Trump's tariffs. Instead, he said, 'Dim the lights', and showed photos and video clips, including one of supposedly hundreds of graves of Afrikaner farmers. It turned out those mounds with crosses were not real, but part of a 2020 protest in response to the murder of a white farming couple. Violent crimes are endemic in South Africa, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Police statistics show 6,953 people were murdered across the country between October and December 2024. Of these, 12 were killed in farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, five were farm dwellers and four were employees who were probably black. Ramaphosa acknowledged the problem of pervasive violent crimes, but denied whites were targeted, and certainly not by his government.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump's ‘white genocide' claims ignore the real danger facing South Africa
Amid green hills near the South African town of Levubu, Louis Cloete and his wife, Ina, raised their children on a farm that had been in the family for three generations. This lushly fertile region, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, is a heartland for growing tropical fruit and nuts. After they retired and their son and two daughters left home, Louis and Ina stayed on the farm as tenants. Their idyll ended one afternoon in April 2022 when intruders burst in and attacked the pair, then aged 74 and 66. The attackers murdered Louis and Ina, white farmers, before ransacking the homestead for valuables and setting it ablaze. The corpses of the couple were later found burnt beyond recognition inside the ruins of their home. All around lay the charred remains of the life they had made together, including dozens of damaged hunting trophies in what was once the living room. Louis and Ina were residing on a remote farm in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, but relations said they had always felt safe. 'I often raised the issue with her of them being in a vulnerable situation all by themselves on the farm,' Ina's brother, Jurie Schoeman, later told the Sunday Times of South Africa. 'She was positive, she got along with local people,' he said, adding that the couple were both fluent in the Venda language spoken in the area. The fate of Louis and Ina – and many others like them – has taken on a new significance since Donald Trump's highly charged encounter with Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Trump challenged his visitor about the supposed persecution of white South Africans in general and white farmers in particular, producing a sheaf of news stories and a carefully prepared video. Although he did not use the word during this meeting, Trump has previously spoken of an alleged 'genocide' of white farmers in South Africa. In a stroke of political theatre, Trump held up the news reports of various crimes committed against white South Africans and summarised their contents. 'Death, death – horrible – death, death,' he intoned as he went through each example. Ramaphosa, by contrast, calmly and deliberately rebutted the president's charges. So what is the truth? How should the world view Trump's accusations? One chilling fact is that about 75 people are murdered in South Africa every day, compared with fewer than two in England and Wales, even though their respective populations are similar. The South African police recorded a total of 27,621 murders in 2023-24 – that amounts to some 45 people per 100,000. Yet black South Africans comprised the great majority of these victims. The number of killings known to have taken place on farms, meanwhile, is relatively low. In the last three months of 2024, police registered nearly 7,000 murders, of which 12 happened on farms. The the race of the victims was not recorded, but one was a farmer; the remainder were either farm-workers or people staying on farms, while one was a security guard. Throughout 2023, there were 49 murders on farms, with some of those victims being black workers. AfriForum, a South African campaign group representing the white Afrikaner minority, recorded nine farm murders in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 11 and seven in the same periods of 2022 and 2021 respectively. Presented with these numbers, scarcely anyone in South Africa would apply a word like 'genocide'. Yes, white farmers have been murdered, but so have thousands of others. The farmers are not being systematically targeted for a concerted campaign because of their race; instead, they have fallen prey to the lawlessness that often prevails across the country. Gareth Newham, who runs a justice and violence prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies in the capital, Pretoria, describes the idea of a 'white genocide' as 'completely false'. The overwhelming majority of murder victims in South Africa were, he says, young and poor black men. 'White people – and white farmers – are the least at risk of violent crime and murder compared to other racial or ethnic groups in South Africa,' says Newham. 'White people, generally, are far wealthier, own more land and have a far better quality of life than black people. This would not be the case if there was a 'white genocide' taking place.' Newham says that robbery was the main motive for the great majority of farm attacks. Any evidence of a racial or political motive, such as slogans written on walls or statements made by the attackers, was 'exceedingly rare,' he adds. No political party in South Africa, including those representing Afrikaners, alleges that a 'genocide' is underway. Nor do groups representing farmers themselves. 'If a murder is on a farm, we call it a farm murder,' says Johann Kotzé, the head of Agri SA, a farmers' lobby group. 'But remember, that same night somebody was also murdered in the little township where the farm workers came from.' Trump's presentation in the Oval Office also contained glaring inaccuracies. The first case study that he chose to present to the world concerned an attack on Jan Jurgens, a 73-year-old white farmer. True enough, Jurgens was assaulted and tied up on his farm last week. But, contrary to Trump, he was not murdered: he is still alive. One white farmer in Mpumalanga province tells The Telegraph: 'Yes, farmers are murdered, but so is everyone else. Being isolated on farms may increase the risk of attacks, but this is not genocide, but rather straight criminality.' Yet, if Trump's main charge is demonstrably false, people have every right to be alarmed by the incendiary rhetoric of some South African politicians. Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, has addressed mass rallies with the slogan: 'Kill the farmer! Kill the Boer!' He has led crowds of thousands in chants of 'shoot to kill'. Malema is an opposition politician who has never held office and his party won just 10.8 per cent of the vote at the last election. And, however distasteful it sounds, the slogan 'Kill the farmer! Kill the Boer' was frequently heard during the struggle against apartheid. Even so, Malema's rhetoric in a country with a bitter history of racial conflict must inevitably stir a sense of threat. That is particularly true when, more than 30 years after the end of apartheid, over a third of all South Africans are jobless, rising to about 60 per cent for the young. After years of economic stagnation, millions of people endure absolute poverty in squalid townships. Meanwhile, the African Nation Congress's (ANC) shameless corruption has indelibly tarnished South Africa's Mandela-era image as a rainbow nation and symbol of hope. The presidency of Jacob Zuma between 2009 and 2018 degenerated into a festival of brazen looting, during which the state was captured and bled dry by a kleptocratic elite. In that era, no less than £20 billion was stolen from government coffers and public enterprises. But the ANC paid the price when it lost its parliamentary majority in last year's election. Today, Ramaphosa leads a coalition government of 10 political parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is supported by most white voters. John Steenhuisen, the DA's (white) leader represents the interests of farmers as agriculture minister. Leon Schreiber, another (white) DA politician, serves as Home Affairs minister. The real danger facing South Africa is not Trump's false and inflammatory accusations. Instead, the greatest risk is that Ramaphosa's new government will fail to achieve the economic transformation that must happen if jobs are to be created and poverty reduced. 'As the unemployed ranks swell, of which a lot of the blame can be laid squarely at the door of the ANC,' says the white farmer from Mpumlanga, 'criminality increases and more and more desperate people resort to desperate measures.' Unless this generation of South African leaders can drag the country out of its malaise, the number of desperate people will grow. And all the time, Malema is waiting in the wings.
Mail & Guardian
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Trump confronts Ramaphosa over farm murders in White House exchange
United States President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa A meeting between United States President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday night South African time veered sharply off course when Trump abruptly turned the focus to farm attacks in South Africa, relegating trade discussions to the sidelines. The live-broadcast, held at the White House and attended by members of Ramaphosa's delegation, which included South African golf stars Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, as well as businessman Johann Rupert, opened with formalities and expressions of economic intent. Ramaphosa told Trump he hoped to 'reset' trade relations and 'promote investments in both countries'. 'We have about 22 companies from South Africa invested in the United States, thus creating a number of jobs, and you have 600 companies invested in South Africa, some of them for hundreds of years.' But the agenda shifted following a question from a journalist Trump identified as being from NBC, who pressed the president on why Afrikaners were being granted refugee status in the US when others around the world were in more dire need. The question prompted Trump to pivot to the issue of farm murders in South Africa. Addressing the journalist's question, Trump said: 'We have had many tremendous complaints about Africa, about other countries too, saying there are a lot of bad things going on in Africa. That's what we will be discussing today. 'If you say we don't take [refugees from other countries], all you have to do is take a look at the southern border. We let 21 million people come through our border, unchecked, unvetted, from all over the world.' Last week, the first group of 49 Afrikaners arrived in the US under Trump's new refugee policy for them, which has since been opened to all minorities. Ramaphosa at the time described those who left as 'cowards' who would eventually return to South Africa. Trump continued: 'We take from many locations, if we feel there is persecution or genocide going in. We have had many [applications from South Africa] and many are white farmers. It's a very sad thing to see, but I hope we can have an explanation of that,' he added, turning to Ramaphosa, 'because I know you don't want that. 'Normally we have meetings and talk about trade. But that will certainly be a subject that comes up.' Trump has repeatedly characterised South Africa's land reform and racially skewed economic redress policies as persecution of white citizens, a narrative Ramaphosa's government has labelled disinformation. At Wednesday's meeting, Trump asked for the lights to be dimmed and directed an aide to play a video montage featuring Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema chanting the anti-apartheid slogan 'kill the boer, kill the farmer' at several rallies, speaking about 'cutting the throat of whiteness', saying 'revolutionaries should never be afraid to kill' and stating that his party would occupy land, and didn't need the consent of the president to do so. The footage also included former president Jacob Zuma singing similar struggle songs referencing violence against farmers. What followed was a conversation that oscillated between grim discussions of farm killings and the country's broader violent crime levels affecting all races — mentioned by every South African delegate who spoke — punctuated by Trump's intermittent asides about golf. The US president, a keen golf enthusiast, shared lighthearted exchanges with Els and Goosen, offering bizarre respites from the otherwise tense discussion. Ramaphosa had earlier given Trump a book weighing 14kg about South African golf courses, a gesture of goodwill that contrasted sharply with the tone the meeting would take. Asked by a South African journalist what it would take for Trump to be convinced there was no white genocide in South Africa — something he has often claimed — Ramaphosa stepped in, saying he could answer the question. 'It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of those who are his good friends, like those who are here … if there was an Afrikaner genocide, these three gentlemen [Els, Goosen and Rupert] wouldn't be here, and nor would my minister of agriculture [Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen]. Responded Trump: 'But Mr President, we have thousands of people talking about it, we have documentaries, we have news stories. And it has to be responded to.' This was when the montage was played, which also included hundreds of white crosses erected along a South African roadside, homages to murdered farmers. 'I have never seen anything like it,' said Trump. Ramaphosa asked where the area was, 'I have never seen it,' he said. 'It's in South Africa,' said Trump. US Vice-president JD Vance then handed Trump a wad of printed articles about farm killings. Trump leafed through the pages, saying 'Death, death, death,' and passed them to Ramaphosa, who passed them to one of his delegates. Asked by another South African journalist what he would like Ramaphosa to 'do about the situation we have just seen on the screen', Trump said: 'I don't know. White South Africans are fleeing because of violence and racist laws. If you look at the videos, how does it get worse?' Ramaphosa was measured in his response, saying South Africa had a multi-party democracy in which citizens could express themselves 'and in some cases, that doesn't go along with government policy'. The EFF was a 'small minority party that is allowed to exist',he added. 'But you do allow them to take land,' said Trump, perhaps a reference to the recently inked Expropriation Act, which allows for the expropriation of land for public use with nil compensation, in some circumstances. 'And when they do, they kill the white farmers, and nothing happens to them.' The 'fake news' in the US didn't want to talk about farm killings, said Trump. Responded Ramaphosa: 'I would like us to talk about it very calmly, to sit down around a table and talk about it, including trade matters.' The US was a trade partner, continued Ramaphosa, 'and these are things we are willing to talk about'. Asked by a journalist whether there were other punitive measures Trump would put in place in South Africa, he responded: 'There are many bad things happening in many countries, but this is very bad, very very bad.' Ramaphosa tried to turn the conversation to talk of restitution, with Trump saying, 'but you are taking people's land'. 'We are not,' started Ramaphosa. Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him he had 'never seen anything like it, the number of people who want to leave South Africa'. Asked by a journalist whether he was afraid that if most farmers in South Africa were killed, there would be economic problems, Ramaphosa said: 'I would like my minister of agriculture to answer that. He is white, he is from the opposition party, which has joined my party [the ANC, in a coalition government].' Rural safety was indeed a problem in South Africa, said Steenhuisen. 'And it requires a lot of effort to get on top of. It is going to require more policing resources, it is going to require a different strategy to deal with it, but certainly the majority of commercial and small-scale farmers want to stay and make it work. 'I have just come from [Nampo] the largest agricultural show in the Southern Hemisphere, and the majority of them want to stay. They, too, have a memorial to those who have died of farm attacks, and as the minister of agriculture, it is something that I am particularly [involved] in, making farm murders and stock theft a priority crime. 'And it affects all farmers in South Africa, stock theft in particular affects black farmers.' He then took a swipe at Malema and Zuma — who now leads the uMkhonto weSizwe party. '[They] are both leaders of opposition minority parties. The reason my party, the DA, chose to join hands with Mr Ramaphosa's party, was precisely to keep those people out of power. 'We cannot have those people sitting in the union buildings making decisions. That is why after 30 years of us exchanging barbs across the floor [with the ANC], we have decided to join hands, precisely to keep that lot out. Because the day they get control of the Union Buildings or parliament, that is what you are going to see,' he said, pointing at the television. 'And that is why this government, working together, needs the support of our allies, around the world, to grow our economy, and shut the door forever on that rabble.' Asked by Trump whether he denounced the language used by Malema in the montage, Ramaphosa said: 'Yes, as government, as my own party, we are completely opposed to that.' Ramaphosa has never publicly condemned the singing of the song, even when pressured by Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum to publicly do so in March this year. When Els was asked to speak, he said he was a proud South African, but 'we want to see things get better in our country'. It was 'important' to have Trump's support, he added. Trump then asked for Rupert's comments. South Africa's richest man started by saying he was 'the biggest target of that rabble rouser [Malema] for over 10 years.' 'We have too many deaths,' said Rupert, 'and it's not only white farmers, it's across the board.' He added that violent crime was most rampant in the Cape Flats area of the Western Cape, which Steenhuisen's DA controls. 'We need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones,' Rupert said, adding that if the South African economy did not grow, its 'culture of lawlessness and dependency' would increase. Satellite internet service Starlink is owned by South African-born tech billionaire, and X and SpaceX owner, Elon Musk, who was in the room. 'We need your help sir, and we need Elon's technology,' Rupert added. One of the final questions from a journalist was whether Trump still believed, after what he had heard, that there was white genocide in the country. 'I haven't made up my mind yet,' he responded.
