Tensions rise in South Africa as groups grapple over farm killings

A tense standoff between white farmers and black activists gripped the South African city of Senekal on Friday, when two men accused of killing a white farm manager were due to appear in court.

More than 100 police officers patrolled the area in front of the courthouse in the Free State province and used barbed wire to separate rival groups.

Sekwetjie Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa appeared before the magistrates court charged with killing 21-year-old Brendin Horner on 1 October. His request for bail was postponed until October 20.

Some 250 white farmers gathered to protest the murder, claiming that the police did not adequately protect white farmers. In an earlier court hearing last week, a group of white farmers stormed the court and burned a police vehicle.

The country’s leftist opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, mobilized about 1,000 of its supporters to challenge white farmers in court. They sang songs and shouted slogans calling for the land of South Africa to be returned to black residents. Many were dressed in the red uniforms and berets of the EFF party.

EFF leader Julius Malema arrived in Senekal on Friday and was expected to speak to his followers after the court hearing.

While most white farmers and the organizations that represent them have called for farm killings to become a priority crime, the government insists white farmers are not being targeted, saying the violence is the result of the South Africa’s relatively high crime rate. South Africa has one of the highest crime statistics in the world, with a homicide rate of just over 58 deaths a day.

The country’s official crime statistics indicate that there were 49 murders on farms in the 2019/2020 financial year.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his weekly letter to the nation on Monday, condemned Horner’s murder, but said farm killings were part of the biggest crime problem.

“People who think that attacks on farms affect only a small part of our population are wrong. The farming community is an integral part of our economy,” Ramaphosa wrote.

Senekal’s assassination has also raised the controversial issue of land ownership in the country.

Much of South Africa’s best farmland belongs to white farmers, as a result of the eviction of black farmers when the country was ruled by a white minority. Although South Africa now has majority rule, land ownership remains a contentious issue, with parties like the EFF urging the government to seize white-owned land without compensation and return it to black families.

– Associated Press