For the first time in thirty years, South Africa’s president, followed by the deputy president, attended Nampo.
Of course, we welcome this – but would it have happened if the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had not turned the world’s magnifying glass on South Africa, its racial policies, and the treatment of Afrikaners, farmers, and minorities?
Would President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile have suddenly appeared at Nampo if 49 Afrikaners had not arrived in America this week, invited by President Trump, to seek a better and safer future for themselves and their children?
Would they have attended Nampo if President Ramaphosa did not have to explain to President Trump next week about everything happening here?
The answer to these questions is a harsh and clear “no.” It remains odd that President Ramaphosa, after seven years and nearly at the end of his term, suddenly feels the need to visit Nampo as a farmer and president.
Yesterday, the deputy president even visited the memorial wall for murdered farmers at the Nampo site and laid a wreath. Again, we welcome this, but we also recall that President Ramaphosa has always, and recently, denied the existence of farm murders.
If the president, deputy president, and ANC leaders want to be believed and taken seriously, words and sudden visits to Nampo are not enough.
There must be actions. Therefore, I issue a challenge to President Ramaphosa and Deputy President Mashatile to undertake the following actions:
- 1. Declare farm murders and murders in rural areas a priority crime and implement necessary measures to address it immediately. (This is how they have handled political murders in KwaZulu-Natal and transit robberies.)
- Reinstate the commando system and empower farmers and agriculturalists to help defend and protect themselves and their communities.
- Declare “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” as hate speech and take action against the instigators using it.
- Abolish the Expropriation Act that allows property to be expropriated without compensation and provide assurance to farmers and all citizens in South Africa that their property rights are recognized and respected.
Do these things, and we will take the ANC seriously.
