The leader of the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus), Dr Corné Mulder, today attended a ceremony to plant 17 crosses for farm murder victims at the White Cross Monument on the Ysterberg in Limpopo where he formally handed over the crosses to be planted.
Two of the crosses were replanted. The other 15 represent murders from 30 June last year to 1 August this year.
The Monument, consisting of approximately 3 000 crosses, serves as an important beacon to raise awareness of farm murders. It also offers victims’ next of kin the opportunity to bid their loved ones a final farewell.
The Monument plays a significant role in helping the next of kin realise that they are not alone in their darkest hour of loss, which helps to bring closure. It is the least that fellow South Africans can do for them.
Through its continued involvement, the Freedom Front Plus wishes to sincerely offer its deepest condolences to the friends and families of those killed.
Every cross not only represents the sorrow and horror of a farm murder, but also serves as a testimony to the world of this brutal reality, and the equally tragic denial of this reality by the country’s government and President.
The cold, hard facts leave no room for doubt. Every cross contains a photograph of the deceased, their date of birth and date of death. So, the information can be thoroughly verified.
As long as prominent politicians such as Julius Malema keep singing songs like “Kill the Boer”, as the late Peter Mokaba did before him, while government silently condones it, the Freedom Front Plus refuses to accept that farm murders are coincidental crime-related incidents.
President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the current wave of presumably serial murders of women on the East Rand, which now stands at nine, by immediately expressing his sympathy, labelling it a “national crisis” and stating that the investigation should be prioritised.
The Freedom Front Plus reiterates that it is well and good. It is the right thing to do. The party would like to see the President recognise, condemn and prioritise farm murders in the same way. However, he denies its existence on the international stage.
The party will, therefore, keep bringing this atrocity to the attention of the international community until government recognises that it is a reality, and takes decisive steps to combat all rural violence and murders effectively.
