SAIRR Today : Press Release : Statement by the South African Institute of Race Relations on the ramifications of the killing of Eugène Terre'Blanche - 6th April 2010The Institute desisted from issuing a formal statement in the immediate aftermath of the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche in order to first gauge the broader social, political, and international reaction to the killing. The Institute is now in a position to make the following points.
Racial tensions in the country appear to have increased significantly in recent weeks. This appears to be chiefly as a result of incitement by the ruling African National Congress to ‘shoot and kill’ the Afrikaner ethnic minority in the country. The anxiety around this incitement may well have influenced opinions across the broader white community. What appears to be the case is that much of the racial rapprochement that characterised the first 15 years of South Africa’s democracy is being undone. This rapprochement saw both black and white South Africans come to occupy a middle ground on race relations upon which the maintenance of future stable race relations depends.
Since 1994 the number of white farmers and their families murdered in South Africa is conservatively put at around 1 000. It may very well be much higher. There are currently an estimated 40 000 commercial farmers in the country. Over this same period in the region 250 000 South Africans out of a total current population of approximately 47 million have been murdered. Criminal violence can therefore be described as ‘rampant’ and has done considerable damage to the social fabric of the country. However, this is not to say that all murders in the country are a function of simple criminal banditry. In an environment where law and order has largely collapsed the consequences of incitement by political leaders to commit murder must be taken seriously.
Over the same period the policy measures put in place by the Government to raise the living standards of the black majority have failed to meet expectations. The key interventions of affirmative action and black economic empowerment have been exploited by the African National Congress to build a network of patronage that has made elements of its leadership extremely wealthy. The party also appears to have been so overwhelmed by corrupt tendencies that it is no longer able to act decisively against corrupt behaviour.
It has also through incompetence and poor policy been unable to address failures in the education system which are now the primary factor retarding the economic advancement of black South Africans.
At the same time the party is acutely aware that its support base of poor black South Africans has begun to turn against it. Violent protest action against the ruling party is now commonplace around the country.
In order to shore up support in the black community the ANC increasingly appears to be seeking to shift the blame for its delivery failures onto the small white ethnic minority, which today comprises well under 10% of the total population of South Africa. Here parallels may be read to the behaviour of Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe when that party realised that its political future was in peril. The ANC Youth League’s recent visit to Zanu-PF which saw it endorse that party’s ruinous polices are pertinent here.
In such an environment it is plausible to consider that the ANC’s exhortations to violence may be a contributing factor to the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche. Certainly the ANC’s protestations to the contrary seem ridiculous as the party is in effect saying that its followers pay no attention to what it says - this from a party that routinely claims that it is the manifestation of the will of all black South Africans. This is not to say that a labour dispute or some other matter could not have inflamed tensions on the Terre'Blanche farm. Rather it is to say that a number of different matters should be considered in determining the motivation for the crime.
Racial tensions in the country appear to have increased significantly in recent weeks. This appears to be chiefly as a result of incitement by the ruling African National Congress to ‘shoot and kill’ the Afrikaner ethnic minority in the country. The anxiety around this incitement may well have influenced opinions across the broader white community. What appears to be the case is that much of the racial rapprochement that characterised the first 15 years of South Africa’s democracy is being undone. This rapprochement saw both black and white South Africans come to occupy a middle ground on race relations upon which the maintenance of future stable race relations depends.
Since 1994 the number of white farmers and their families murdered in South Africa is conservatively put at around 1 000. It may very well be much higher. There are currently an estimated 40 000 commercial farmers in the country. Over this same period in the region 250 000 South Africans out of a total current population of approximately 47 million have been murdered. Criminal violence can therefore be described as ‘rampant’ and has done considerable damage to the social fabric of the country. However, this is not to say that all murders in the country are a function of simple criminal banditry. In an environment where law and order has largely collapsed the consequences of incitement by political leaders to commit murder must be taken seriously.
Over the same period the policy measures put in place by the Government to raise the living standards of the black majority have failed to meet expectations. The key interventions of affirmative action and black economic empowerment have been exploited by the African National Congress to build a network of patronage that has made elements of its leadership extremely wealthy. The party also appears to have been so overwhelmed by corrupt tendencies that it is no longer able to act decisively against corrupt behaviour.
It has also through incompetence and poor policy been unable to address failures in the education system which are now the primary factor retarding the economic advancement of black South Africans.
At the same time the party is acutely aware that its support base of poor black South Africans has begun to turn against it. Violent protest action against the ruling party is now commonplace around the country.
In order to shore up support in the black community the ANC increasingly appears to be seeking to shift the blame for its delivery failures onto the small white ethnic minority, which today comprises well under 10% of the total population of South Africa. Here parallels may be read to the behaviour of Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe when that party realised that its political future was in peril. The ANC Youth League’s recent visit to Zanu-PF which saw it endorse that party’s ruinous polices are pertinent here.
In such an environment it is plausible to consider that the ANC’s exhortations to violence may be a contributing factor to the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche. Certainly the ANC’s protestations to the contrary seem ridiculous as the party is in effect saying that its followers pay no attention to what it says - this from a party that routinely claims that it is the manifestation of the will of all black South Africans. This is not to say that a labour dispute or some other matter could not have inflamed tensions on the Terre'Blanche farm. Rather it is to say that a number of different matters should be considered in determining the motivation for the crime.
The rest of the SAIRR Press release can be read by clicking here
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The following, somewhat article was republished in just days before the Terre'Blanche killing
Careful not to be mistaken for boers
This is not a news article and was originally published on a satirical news website, www.hayibo.com
As the ANC continues to defend a song calling for whites to be killed, the South African government has appealed to white visitors at this year's World Cup not to drive beige diesel Mercedeses, collect angel- or clown-themed art or do anything else that might make the Youth League mistake them for boers and kill them.
In a startling failure to see the irony in going to the Constitutional Court to defend its right to call for genocide, the ANC confirmed last week that it would appeal against a finding that its 'Kill the Boer' song was hate-speech and incitement to murder.
This morning the government defended the song again, saying that it was essential for the ANC's 16-year-old program of invoking the liberation struggle to avoid having to do any actual service delivery.
But, said the ANC's Commissar for Racial Profiling, Hitler Mazibuko, South Africa was committed to killing as few foreign tourists and soccer stars as possible, and appealed to them not to imitate boers in any way.
He said boors would not be harmed as they comprised 98 percent of the players coming to South Africa this year. But, he said, even such famous "honky crackers" as Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo could be gunned down by over-zealous ANC Youth League members if they did not take precautions.
"Obviously we can't guarantee 100 percent that we won't blow away the wrong people," said Mazibuko. "I mean, this is South Africa."
But, he said, there were certain common-sense precautions visiting whites could take to make sure they weren't mistaken for boers and massacred.
"First up, the beige diesel Mercedes from the mid-1980s ? that's a big no-no," he said.
"That's got failed Bophuthatswana putsch fifth-columnist written all over it."
He said the next biggest giveaway of "boer sensibilities" was a penchant for large acrylic paintings of angels or crying clowns, and extremely expensive bronze sculptures of the Big Five.
Finally, he said, female visitors in their 40s should steer clear of wearing long red velvet multi-layered skirts while claiming to be "free spirits" or "artists", as they would be shot on sight as the daughters of boers.
A spokesman for boer art dealers said he would release a statement as soon as he got back from delivering a shipment of bronze cheetahs to ?migr?s in Mauritius, but said that the news made him feel like "a crying child harlequin holding a dead rose on a rainy Parisian street".
Source
____________
Hat Tip: TVJ
As the ANC continues to defend a song calling for whites to be killed, the South African government has appealed to white visitors at this year's World Cup not to drive beige diesel Mercedeses, collect angel- or clown-themed art or do anything else that might make the Youth League mistake them for boers and kill them.
In a startling failure to see the irony in going to the Constitutional Court to defend its right to call for genocide, the ANC confirmed last week that it would appeal against a finding that its 'Kill the Boer' song was hate-speech and incitement to murder.
This morning the government defended the song again, saying that it was essential for the ANC's 16-year-old program of invoking the liberation struggle to avoid having to do any actual service delivery.
But, said the ANC's Commissar for Racial Profiling, Hitler Mazibuko, South Africa was committed to killing as few foreign tourists and soccer stars as possible, and appealed to them not to imitate boers in any way.
He said boors would not be harmed as they comprised 98 percent of the players coming to South Africa this year. But, he said, even such famous "honky crackers" as Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo could be gunned down by over-zealous ANC Youth League members if they did not take precautions.
"Obviously we can't guarantee 100 percent that we won't blow away the wrong people," said Mazibuko. "I mean, this is South Africa."
But, he said, there were certain common-sense precautions visiting whites could take to make sure they weren't mistaken for boers and massacred.
"First up, the beige diesel Mercedes from the mid-1980s ? that's a big no-no," he said.
"That's got failed Bophuthatswana putsch fifth-columnist written all over it."
He said the next biggest giveaway of "boer sensibilities" was a penchant for large acrylic paintings of angels or crying clowns, and extremely expensive bronze sculptures of the Big Five.
Finally, he said, female visitors in their 40s should steer clear of wearing long red velvet multi-layered skirts while claiming to be "free spirits" or "artists", as they would be shot on sight as the daughters of boers.
A spokesman for boer art dealers said he would release a statement as soon as he got back from delivering a shipment of bronze cheetahs to ?migr?s in Mauritius, but said that the news made him feel like "a crying child harlequin holding a dead rose on a rainy Parisian street".
Source
____________
Hat Tip: TVJ
3 comments:
You live with the heavy weight of subliminal fear on your shoulders every day. It wears you down and when you see tourists visiting you wonder why they look different.
You then realise that the only weight they have on their shoulders is their backpack.
Sarah, have you noticed The Irish Savant's blog disappearing today? Just after his piece on the current situation in SA, too!
The Irish Savant was down for a while, but I am glad to say it is back up again
http://irishsavant.blogspot.com/
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