JOHANNESBURG - South Africas official opposition, Democratic Alliance, this week accused the ruling African National Congress for failing to adequately deal with the influx of foreign nationals, mainly Zimbabweans, saying this impacted badly on the problems in South Africas farms as well fuelling xenophobic attacks.
Lourie Bosman, DA Spokesperson on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said on Monday that recent comments by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe that the murders in the farms emanated from farmers exploiting the foreign farm workers were as such not true. Crime is a problem facing all South Africans and violent crime in particular is often defined by acts which defy any explanation other than a deep seated hatred for a persons fellow citizen. It is true that a tiny minority of farmers do mistreat those people in their employ. These farmers are a disgrace and their actions should be condemned in no uncertain terms. But the vast majority of farmers are committed first and foremost to South Africa and helping grow this important part of our economy. To paint all farmers with the same brush is fuel on a fire than needs to be clamed, not encouraged. It is short-sighted for the Deputy President not to be more particular, Bosman said in a statement to ***The Zimbabwean.
His failure to do so suggests that the ANC government is trying to shift the focus away from its inability and unwillingness to handle and control the illegal influx of people from Zimbabwe and other neighbouring countries and violent xenophobic attacks. Last week, Motlanthe alleged that farmers exploit foreign nationals by reducing them to cheap labour resulting in farmers being killed out of anger and revenge. This statement is profoundly misguided and ignores the hard facts surrounding this sensitive issue.
The facts are that more than 1600 farmers have been murdered since the ANC came into power a trend that is still continuing and escalating. Very few, if any, of these murders were the result of foreigners employed on farms, indeed there is a strong case to be made that a significant number are the consequence of inflammatory speech by political leaders. Certainly a great many are the consequence of nothing more than hate, as the gruesome circumstances surrounding many farmer murders attests to, Bosman said. There is a substantial number of Zimbabweans employed in South African farms. Some have previously complained of exploitation and racism, among other problems, at the hands of mostly white farmers.
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