DURBAN - The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the North West has said it supports investigations into a "bizarre attack" in which a Buffelspoort farm manager's bakkie was vandalised and torched.
The organisation called for calm following the incident, but also questioned the authenticity of the crime.
Sanco provincial chairperson Paul Sebegoe said on Tuesday that "no stone should be left unturned" to get to the bottom of the occurrence.
The manager's bakkie was sprayed with the words "Kill the Boer" and "#Kill You" before being set alight, allegedly on Reconciliation Day.
Sebegoe said that according to Sanco's knowledge, graffiti was not part of the country's farm attack modus-operandi, "therefore this incident - which allegedly occurred on Reconciliation Day - is of special interest to us as much as we condemn the racial connotation and all forms of violence in our farming communities”.
According to police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Amanda Funani, the 38-year-old farm manager heard his dog barking and went to investigate. He subsequently alerted the police.
Sebegoe said that reconciliation had thus far "eluded" South Africans "because of the failure of some of our compatriots to embrace it as a two-way process that involves compromise, commitment to shared values and a common national identity".
“The resurgence of racism, which has recently manifested through acts of intimidation as well as mobilisation of voters along racial lines, including violence in farming communities, is the antithesis of reconciliation, unity, nation-building and social cohesion.
"It is in this context that we do not take lightly any incident that bears the hallmark of a racist farm attack and hope that it is not a deceitful attempt to cover-up domestic violence for insurance fraud," he said.
He said that the "Kill the Boer" slogan had no relevance or place in the current political dispensation.