Civil rights organisation AfriForum says it contemplating asking government to institute an independent commission of inquiry into farm attacks and murders.
AfriForum’s Ernst Roets, who has launched a book titled Kill the Boer in Pretoria, says there’s been remarkable increase in farm attacks and murders.
In the book, Roets deals with the current political climate, which he says encourages farm attacks, as well as the government’s strategy to deal with farm attacks.
“Now according to our data there has been 34 farm murders since the beginning of this year. More than 210 farm attacks and if you compare the 2018 to the first six months of 2017 notwithstanding the fact that June is still not over there is already 34-percent increase in the first six months of this year compared to the first six months of last year,” says Roets.
A senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Dr. Johan Burger, who previewed the book, says people should not criticise the book before reading it.
Roets’s book, which was launched on Thursday, has already attracted wide criticism from political organisations and on social media.
Burger says after reading the book and doing a proper analysis of its contents, he believes that it could assist in building a common understanding and debate on the issue of farm attacks and killings.
“When we look at a book such as Kill the Boer by Ernst Roets, whether we agree with all the arguments and some of the findings in that book becomes irrelevant. What is important about this book is, it contributes to the debate about farm attacks which is crucial,” says Burger.
Burger says, “We cannot afford a situation that our farming community is delivered into the hands of criminals who believe they had a freedom to do to the victims whatever they want. So whether we like this book or whether we agree with it or not this is an important contribution to debate on rural safety.”
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