Pretoria - The more they continue to sing Kill the Boer or Dubula iBhunu (“Shoot the Boer”), the more farmers are brutally murdered.
This was the firm reply by AfriForum deputy chief executive Ernst Roets when asked if there was a proven correlation between farm murders and hate speech or songs.
Roets wrote the book Kill the Boer, which politicians have described as racist populism. It was launched in Centurion on Thursday.
The book, according to Roets, claims politicians and the government have been complicit in the proliferation of farm murders, which AfriForum believes are racially motivated.
Roets said there were reported cases in the book of people who had committed farm murders and said that they had been influenced by the singing of songs such as Kill the boer or Dubul’ ibhunu.
In the book, it is stated that, after the singing of the song by late ANC Youth League leader Peter Mokaba in 1993, there was an increase of 135% in the murder of farmers.
It said Julius Malema sang Dubul’ iBhunu in 2010 and there was a 51% upsurge in farm murders.
“There is a very clear upward variance in farm attacks and farm murders after high-profile incidents of hate speech,” Roets said.
During the first six months of last year 157 farm attacks took place and 40 farm murders were committed. Since the start of this year, 210 farm attacks have occurred and 33 murders have been committed said Roets.
Malema was a public and influential leader openly singing lyrics that incited violence towards an ethnic group, which constituted hate speech, Roets added.
AfriForum asked that an independent commission of inquiry be set up to determine what the factors were that led to farm murders.
During the book launch, Roets played a recording in which a member of the 28 Prison Gang alleged that Malema went to see them in jail to talk about farm murders.
Roets also told of his own experience when a convicted farm murderer told him that he was a member of the ANC’s military wing uMkhonto weSizwe and that the ANC had given him an order to murder a farmer.
Roets said these allegations must be viewed in a serious light and be investigated thoroughly. He said the issue was not investigated further.
He said AfriForum did not claim that all farm murders were politically motivated, but it was gravely concerned that the political element was underplayed.
“Our analysis of five incidents of hate speech from high political leaders against farmers indicated that farm murders in the months following these incidents increased by an average of 74.8%,” he said.
The book reveals accounts
of the direct involvement of members of the ANC, and the police in particular, in the planning and execution of these attacks.
It is argued that a looming process of ethnic cleansing should be regarded as a serious threat and something to be prevented.
The book will be launched to the public tomorrow and will be available in bookshops soon.
Asked if he had received death threats about his book, Roets replied: “Too many.”