[ OLD - 2003 ]
HRC: Farm attacks criminal, not political
July 28 2003 at 01:58pm
By Edwin Naidu
A two-year investigation by the Human Rights Commission into farm killings and the poor treatment of farmworkers has found that there was no political motive behind the attacks on farmers.
The attacks, which saw hundreds of farmers killed throughout the country over the past three years, were criminally motivated, according to the human rights body's findings.
On average between 140 and 145 farmers had been killed annually since 1997.
Charlotte McClain, the human rights commissioner who presided over the inquiry, said the commission received submissions on the possible causes of the farm killings during hearings held around the country last year.
"But almost all the ones I heard did not support the perception that these were political - the violations against farmers were criminally motivated," she said.
It was widely claimed ahead of the inquiry - launched in May 2001 - that the police and other criminal justice organs were collaborating with perpetrators of human rights violations. Some farming bodies also claimed that political parties were behind the widespread killings on farms.
The South African Agricultural Union indicated that 2 730 attacks were carried out on farms between 1992 and 1997, and 464 farmers had been murdered between 1994 and 1998.
The probe by the human rights body supports the finding of a preliminary report made in a separate inquiry launched by the late safety and security minister Steve Tshwete in 2001 under advocate Charl du Plessis.
Du Plessis confirmed on Sunday that his 500-page report would be handed over to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula on Thursday.
Nqakula told parliament last month that, according to an interim report submitted to him, the inquiry found no political motives behind the killings and that the overwhelming evidence pointed to crime being the major reason for farm attacks.
Cobus Visser, spokesperson for farmers' union AgriSA, said the organisation was keen to establish whether the human rights body had investigated the impact of the slogan "Kill the boer, Kill the farmer" on the attacks.
"They claim there was no political motive behind the killings, but this was a political slogan, which the commission ruled as unacceptable hate speech and which contributed directly to the attacks," he said.
Chris van Zyl, head of rural safety for the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa, believes the high level of violent attacks, where victims were shot in the knees or had other gruesome acts carried out on them, and then had nothing stolen from their farms, indicated motives that were not entirely clear.
