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Graves of victims of the South African farm attacks. According to some commentators, including Genocide Watch, the rate and barbarity of the attacks disproportionally targeting white farmers constitutes genocide. Such claims have been disputed by the South African government and police, whom consider it to be part of a wider crime problem in the country.

The South African farm attacks (Afrikaans: plaasmoorde; "plaas" = farm, "moorde" = murders) are an ongoing trend of violent attacks on farmers in South Africa, with a disproportionate number of victims being White. Between 1994 and March 2012, there have been 361,015 murders in South Africa. Estimates suggest a murder rate for commercial farmers four to six times the national average. While criminal raids on rural properties are not uncommon to the region, attacks on South African farms occur at a rate several hundred times higher than those in any other country. The South African government estimates that there are 31 murders per 100,000 people per year, or 50 in a day.

Many white farmers perceive the attacks to be racially motivated. The murder rate of white South African farmers is four times higher than the national average. Fact checking organisation Africa Check has stated that black and coloured farmowners account for less than 38.4% of victims of farm attacks, while accounting for 89% of South Africa's population. The farm attacks have been likened to a potential genocide of White people in South Africa by various conservative commentators, including National Review and FrontPage Magazine. Non-profit organization Genocide Watch head Gregory Stanton has expressed concern, whom concluded after a fact-finding mission in South Africa that he believes there is "a coordinated campaign of genocide being conducted against white farmers", as the murders can be separated from common crimes due to the "barbarity used against the victims". This resulted in Genocide Watch raising South Africa to Stage Six on the Genocidal Scale, or "Preparation". In January 2015, AfriForum reported that there has been an increase in farm attacks and murders in the previous five years.

This characterization of the murders as racially motivated hate crimes have been challenged by some. Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has stated that attacks were not motivated by race but by greed. Moreover, the South African Police Service has declared that there is no evidence of organised attacks. The disbandment of the predominantly rural South African Commando System has been linked to the escalating level of farm attacks. Human Rights Watch has criticized usage of the term "farm attacks" and the "disproportional" attention they received, although this notion has been rejected by other prominent international organisations.

Role of race

There has been disagreements and controversy raised at the role racism in South Africa plays in the attacks. Various conservative commentators such as National Review and FrontPage Magazine have considered the attacks to constitute genocide, based on the barbarity and disproportionate number of the attacks. This is supported by non-profit organization Genocide Watch, whose head Gregory Stanton visited South Africa in July 2012. He concluded that there is a coordinated campaign of genocide being conducted against white farmers, or Boers, writing they are "not accidental" and drawing differences between the "massacre" of the attacks versus more "common crimes". The savage nature of the attacks has also lead to some characterizing it as a hate crime. This includes victims being subject to rape and torture before they are killed; one victim has had boiling water poured down his throat, another was burnt with hot pokers or hacked to death with a machete; yet others are disemboweled or tied to their car and driven for miles.

Criticism has directed at the South African government, especially the ruling African National Congress and head Jacob Zuma for their role in the crime. National Review asserts farm attacks in part to be caused by a corrupt government and de facto one-party rule, which has resulted in ordinary South Africans hesitating in reporting crimes to police. Zuma does not believe a genocide is occurring, finding the attacks to be part of a larger crime problem. Police in South Africa are prohibited from reporting murders by race. Allegations have been raised that police crime statistics have been manipulated nonetheless, and after 200 protesters of the Afrikaner civil rights group AfriForum marched in Pretoria to commemorate the murder of a white farmer, as well as calling the attacks to be treated as a crime of national priority, their demonstration was dismissed as "grandstanding" by police spokesman Zweli Mnisi. Mnisi stated that "for us, racializing crime is problematic. You can't have a separate category that says, farmers are the special golden boys and girls. You end up saying the life of a white person is more important. You cannot do this."

Julius Malema, ex-member of the African National Congress and current leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, was found guilty of hate speech through singing a song titled "Shoot the Boer". According to sources, the song fosters anti-White sentiment and helped increase the rate and severity of attacks.

The actions of several South African government officials in response to the attacks has also been criticized. National Review and FrontPage Magazine found issue especially with an anti-apartheid song "Ayesaba Amagwala" ("The Cowards are Scared") and the line "Shoot the Boer", believing it to be incitement to violence. "Shoot the Boer" has been sang by both Zuma and prominent ANC Julius Malema; Malema was later convicted of hate speech and expelled from the party, later forming his own opposition, the Economic Freedom Fighters. The song was re-sang by Zuma after Malema was convicted, leading a crowd of "tens of thousands" while members of the military danced in the crowd. While conservative commentators have labelled "Shoot the Boer" to be a song about genocide, the African National Congress consideres it an integral part of the anti-apartheid movement that is part of their heritage. The singing of "Shoot the Boer" has been correlated to spikes in the farm attacks, with the rate increasing every month every time it was sang by Zuma. Malema's revival of the song lead Genocide Watch to raise South Africa to stage six on its genocide scale. After it banned by the South African judiciary as hate speech, this was then lowered to stage five. After an African National Congress appeal and the re-singing of the song by Zuma, it was re-raised to six.

According to Johan Burger, a senior researcher with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies' crime and justice program, it is twice as dangerous to be a farmer in South Africa than a police officer. For police, the rate of murder is 51 out of 100,000 people; this is raised to 99 out of 100,00 for South African farmers, the majority of whom are white. Nevertheless, Burger does not consider such actions to amount to genocide. FrontPage Magazine alleges the existence of a link between gun control and the farm attacks. According to them, the disarming of farmers through the Firearms Registration Act of 2010 and the disbanding of the commando system has forced "white farm families" to "relinquish their last line of defense against the tens of thousands of criminal gangs roaming the countryside." Stanton of Genocide Watch claims that the South African state constantly "demonizes" white farmers, through referring to them as "settlers" and using "racial epithets", and president Zuma supports racial division. These claims have been dismissed by Zuma, who pointed to the disproportionate control of the South African economy by white men. According to Digital Journal, an Afrikaner farmer has declared that "it's politically correct to kill whites these days", due to the "silence" of the South African press on the matter and authorities declaring the attacks to be no longer a priority.

According to Inquisitr, the pushing of the White genocide conspiracy theory by white supremacist groups in the United States detract from a genuine white genocide being committed in South Africa. They also accused of the South African government engaging in hypocrisy, through focusing "on racist remarks made by whites while continuing to ignore racist remarks made against whites". Police believe the attacks to be robberies, despite little being taken in most attacks though rape and murder are frequently involved. Police say farmers are often targeted because of their remote locations and the perception that they have valuables such as cash or guns. In 2012, Reuters reported that the number of the farmers of European descent had decreased by a third since 1997, citing news headlines about farm killings as an incentive to sell. The Natives' Land Act adopted in 1913, awarded the ownership of 87 percent of land to South Africans of European descent. The modern discontent among the black South Africans has caused the populists to call for a confiscation of white-owned farms in the north. In 2013, eighty percent of the farming lands was owned by one-tenth of the South African population. The EFF party, founded by Julius Malema, demanded redistribution of the land and wealth. Former police commissioner Bheki Cele believes the attacks to not be racially motivated, writing "The people that are being killed are farmers. Whether they are white, black, yellow, green or purple, we have seen farmers coming under attack and we treat it as such."

Terminology and definition

South African statutory law does not define a "farm attack" as a specific crime. Rather, the term is used to refer to a number of different crimes committed against persons specifically on commercial farms or smallholdings.

According to the South African Police Service National Operational Co-co-ordinating Committee:

Attacks on farms and smallholdings refer to acts aimed at the person of residents, workers and visitors to farms and smallholdings, whether with the intent to murder, rape, rob or inflict bodily harm. In addition, all actions aimed at disrupting farming activities as a commercial concern, whether for motives related to ideology, labour disputes, land issues, revenge, grievances, intimidation, should be included.

This definition excludes "social fabric crimes", that is those crimes committed by members of the farming community on one another, such as domestic or workplace violence, and focuses on outsiders entering the farms to commit specific criminal acts. The safety and security Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Mpumalanga Province, Dina Pule, has disagreed with this definition and has stated that "farm attacks" only included those cases "where farm residents were murdered, and not cases of robberies or attempted murders." Human Rights Watch has criticised the use of the term "farm attacks", which they regard as "suggesting a terrorist or military purpose", which they consider to not be the primary motivation for most farm attacks. According to media reports, as of December 2011, approximately 3,158 – 3,811 South African farmers have been murdered in these attacks. However, self-reported data from the Transvaal Agricultural Union state that 1,544 people were killed in farm attacks from 1990 to 2012.

Committee of Inquiry

A Committee of Inquiry into Farm Attacks was appointed in 2001 by the National Commissioner of Police. The purpose of the committee was to "inquire into the ongoing spate of attacks on farms, which include violent criminal acts such as murder, robbery, rape, etc, to determine the motives and factors behind these attacks and to make recommendations on their findings".

• Monetary theft occurred in 31.2% of the attacks, firearms were stolen in 23.0%, and 16.0% of farm attacks involved vehicular thefts. The committee noted that "there is a common misconception that in a large proportion of farm attacks little is stolen" and "various items are stolen in by far the greater majority of cases, and, in those cases where nothing is taken, there is almost always a logical explanation, such as that the attackers had to leave quickly because help arrived."

Prevention

Helicopter searching for farm attackers in Limpopo province.

While the police are supposed to regularly visit commercial farms to ensure security, they claim they cannot provide effective protection due to the wide areas that need to be covered and a lack of funding. The protection gap has been filled by 'Farmwatch' groups which link together by radio nearby farmers who can provide mutual assistance, local Commando volunteers, and private security companies. These forces are more likely to be able to respond rapidly to security alarms than widely distributed police stations. The particular mix of groups that operate varies by area, with border zones continuing a strong history of Commando volunteers, while wealthier farmers are more likely to employ private security firms. The police and these groups are linked together as part of the Rural Protection Plan, created in 1997 by President Nelson Mandela. However, in 2003 the government began disbanding commando units, on the pretext that they had been "part of the apartheid state's security apparatus".

National Review suggested that farmers could try establishing a "Singapore-style city-state" independent of the national government, funded through foreign investment. They claim that this could boost the economy and supply jobs, and through the establishing of a self-defense force "help prevent a genocide. As a bonus."