Boeremag 'could spark attacks'
2003-01-22 10:38
Pretoria - The extremist Boeremag and their plans for a coup d'état, coupled with the series of bomb attacks, led to increasing tension between farmers and their labourers and could spark more farm attacks.
According to AgriSA vice-president Lourie Bosman, farmers are now considered the "enemy", even though the vast majority of them have distanced themselves from the Boeremag.
Bosman said: "Most Boeremag suspects are not productive farmers and are from other sectors.
"It is unacceptable that farmers, who are trying to get a better dispensation by way of negotiations, are now linked to the Boeremag."
Piet Botha, a farmer from Orkney, said the Boeremag stoked the fires of racial hatred with regard to defenceless people.
"Black people now regard every farmer as being from the far-right, while only a handful of people believe in plans to kill others," he said.
Website for farming interests
A website for farmers who are striving for "political sovereignty and full statehood" also has distanced itself from the Boeremag.
According to a statement from the website, violence is not an option for them.
The website was created in 1994 to disseminate information about events touching on the lives of farmers. They get between 30 000 and 60 000 visitors to the site a month.
Gert Ehlers, president of the Transvaal Agricultural Union also said his union did not support the Boeremag, even though some of its members were among the Boeremag suspects.
"Farm murders were there long before the Boeremag came into being. The Boeremag is not the motive for farm murders.
"Slogans like 'Kill a farmer, kill a Boer' are the more-likely cause of the bigger assault on farmers," he said.