AfriForum to hand over farm list
2010-03-19 11:06
Johannesburg - Two hundred AfriForum members and some crime victims gathered at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg on Friday, to hand over a list of farm attack victims to the ANC Youth League.
Protesters carrying posters, occasionally chanted "Stop Malema", referring to ANCYL leader Julius Malema.
Their placards also read "Stop Malema", "ANC: Kill the Boer... Words can Kill", "Malema has blood on his hands" and "Malema; a champagne sipping racist".
Malema has faced criticism for singing ""shoot the boere" at his birthday celebration in Polokwane and at a student gathering in Johannesburg earlier in March.
Political motive
Konrad Brettschneider, 33, said his father was killed on a farm in Bela-Bela in Limpopo in 2003.
Brettschneider said three men had come to their house and when his father went to investigate he was shot dead.
He said his family believed the motive was political because nothing was taken during the incident and the perpetrators refused to tell them, even during trial, why their father was killed.
He said the men were sentenced to 34 years in jail.
Brettschneider said he would like to see leaders like Malema refraining from sending negative messages to the public.
"What we need in this country is positive speech from our leaders. That is the only thing that will build this country.
"Peter Mokaba used these negative things about killing the boers and people are dying. We really need positive talk."
Brettschneider said it was important for him to come to the protest to put a face to the victims of farm attacks.
1 600 murdered on SA farms
AfriForum has drawn up a list of 1 600 people murdered on South African farms in recent years, to show that singing of the song may have consequences.
AfriForum chairperson Ernst Roets said when they spoke to the Youth League president on Thursday to find out whether he would send somebody to pick up the list, he asked them to withdraw their case against him at the Equality Court.
"We then asked him whether he would stop singing these controversial songs, he said no. We told him that we will not withdraw the case and he said that they withdraw permission to accept our memo."
AfriForum has submitted a complaint about the singing of the boer song to the Equality Court in Johannesburg.
Roets said it was not clear whether the ANCYL would send someone to pick up the memorandum, but said that they were arranging representatives to drop it off at the ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, if no one came.
- SAPA