Threats to seize SA farms

News24 ^

[Ironfocus]

14/03/2004 21:56 - (SA) Jason Lloyd

Kirkwood - "We will not vote on April 14, but we will take farms and chase away white farmers like dogs."

The Landless People's Movement (LPM) confirmed over the weekend that the organisation was still planning to violently take over farms on election day.

Mangaliso Kubheko, national organiser of the LPM, said on Saturday that the organisation was "sick and tired" of government's delays in completing land claims.

Khubeka did not want to say which areas the LPM would target.

"No, we will not say where we will hit. It could mess up our plans because then police will know how to stop us."

He said the LPM's members would not vote on election day but rather "chase white farmers from their farms like dogs".

No land no vote

"We will give substance to our campaign of no land no vote," he said.

Kubheka added that the LPM had no plans to apologise to the Freedom Front Plus.

The party filed a complaint against the LMP with the South African Human Rights Commission after Kubheka said in December that the organisation would kill farmers who kill their workers.

Glen Thomas, deputy director-general of the department of land affairs, said on Sunday that the LPM's threat was being taken seriously.

"If they break the law, the police will act," he said.

The ANC and other political parties called on the LPM earlier this month to abandon its plans after the organisations occupied offices of the Eastern Cape government in Bisho.

[Ironfocus]

Ping

[cyborg]

The LPM sounds like China's 'great leap forward' or some other communist boondoggle.

[Clint Williams]

No racism evident here, no sirree!

[Ironfocus]

They are also using the infamous "kill the Boer, kill the farmer" line at every occasion, with no consequences, despite the fact that the SA constitutional court ruled it to be hate speech.

[cyborg]

These people sound like a fringe group of troublemakers. Are they going to lock them like they rounded up boeremag members? I hope so. Otherwise they don't want a Dec 16 reunion grudgematch on their hands.

[nightdriver]

A Zimbabwe redux?

[IAmNotAnAnimal]

There is no such thing as racism against white people...didn;t you get the memo?

[Ironfocus]

So far they have not done anything but threaten. I fear what would happen if they tried to do this, it may end in bloodshed. They claim to have 50,000 members, but I seriously doubt that. Also, it's election year, so the ANC government don't want to lose potential voters by seemingly ignoring the so-called land issue.

[Ironfocus]

In Zim it was the government taking farms away, here it is not. The government reaction will be interesting though.

[RWR8189]

But then this guy says every thing is coming up roses in SA...

[Clint Williams]

I'm sorry.

I must have missed it.

I hereby humbly apologize and abjectly abase myself for my most grievious error. And I not only just humbly apologize and abjectly abase myself for my most grievious error, but I....

("Drat. Where DID I put that ammo...?")

[Ironfocus]

LA Times?
Also, Cape Town is probably the least affected by anything. There is a lot simmering under the surface, and he touched on some of it. Crime is one. Everybody praises the SA economy, but unemployment is at 46%. Like a good lib, he chooses which facts to publish. Granted, there was no civil war like in Haiti or Rwanda, but 28,000 SAfricans are murdered each year, there might as well be one.

[Meldrim]

I guess your implication is that the average white still has firearms to defend himself?

[Ironfocus]

Especially the farmers, who have been under siege for the last few years. They are normally the victims of surprise attacks, my guess is they will take the law into their own hands if the police does not intervene.

[yankeedame]

They are also using the infamous "kill the Boer, kill the farmer" line at every occasion, with no consequences, despite the fact that the SA constitutional court ruled it to be hate speech.

-------------- And, as less and less food is brought to market, the price of food slowly but surely begins its upward march. Rhodesia deux

IMHO, look for a terrible drought (polite cough) to strike SA this year, and a even worse one in '05.

[yankeedame]

They are normally the victims of surprise attacks, my guess is they will take the law into their own hands if the police does not intervene.

Yeah, and the minute they do the UN and "world opinion" will come down on them (the white farmers) like a ton of bricks.

[Ironfocus]

From the UN! Right you are...

SOUTH AFRICA: Drought emergency in six provinces affects 4 million

© OXFAM

South Africa could be facing the lowest maize production levels in more than 30 years

JOHANNESBURG, 19 Jan 2004 (IRIN) - The South African cabinet is expected to endorse a plan to provide relief to more than four million people affected by one of the worst droughts in recent decades.

Xolani Xundu, spokesperson for the Provincial and Local Government Minister, Sydney Mufamadi, told IRIN this number was expected to rise.

"The relief measures would not only include food assistance for farmworkers, but also comprise providing access to drinking water, animal feed for cattle and medicines," he said.

[Ironfocus]

Yep, the accusations of racism and apartheid will fly thick and fast.