World protests at farm killings
25/03/2004 22:13  - (SA)  

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Marietie Louw, Beeld

Pretoria - International and local protests against farm killings, which are described overseas as the "South African massacre", are being planned for Saturday.

Kobus Hermitage of the South Africa Against Crime Action Group (Saacag) said on Thursday 1 634 farmers had been murdered since 1994 and it was time the world protested against this.

In January (this year) alone, 17 farmers were killed, he said.

Saacag will stage protests in South Africa, the Netherlands, England and the United States on Saturday against farm attacks.

One of the aims of the protests is to force the South African government to focus more seriously on farm attacks.

Locally, Saacag is planning a protest march at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria on Saturday morning at noon to show how important the farming community is to the country's economy.

At the same time, Don Pengelly will be protesting in the US against South African farm attacks. He is staging his protest on the spot where former US president John F Kennedy was assassinated.

Will protest in The Hague in The Netherlands

Pengelly was visiting friends on a farm in Limpopo last November when a farmer's wife was murdered on a neighbouring farm. Rina du Plessis, 73, was beaten to death.

After this, he did research into farm killings and decided to launch a protest against it.

"After the murder, I watched the woman's family and saw the misery in their faces.

"I have seen this expression before only on the faces of cattle at an abattoir in Texas."

Adriana Stuijt, who has been protesting against farm attacks for some time, will also launch a protest in Den Haag, Nederland.

In England, Malcolm Wren, who walked hundreds of kilometres last year to draw attention to the plight of farmers in South Africa, will also be protesting against farm killings.

Lita Fourie, founder member of the Tabita organisation against farm attacks, started a 834km walk against farm attacks in South Africa two weeks ago.

Her parents were tortured for hours in 2000 before they were murdered on their farm in the Gravelotte area in Limpopo.

Send e-mail to mlouw1@beeld.com

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