Hundreds of people, many on bikes, protested outside Parliament on Saturday morning against farm murders.
Ashraf Hendricks, GroundUp
- Hundreds of bikers protested outside Parliament against farm murders.
- Protesters claimed they were “gatvol” and said they were being “ignored”.
- Some of their demands included protection from the state and assistance with security equipment and training.
Hundreds of bikers roared down Roeland Street in Cape Town on Saturday morning to protest against farm murders.
According to a GroundUp report, they gathered outside Parliament in leather jackets and long boots carrying placards saying: “Stop farm killings” and “No farms, no food.”
Some bikers performed “donuts” (spinning around on their bike wheels).
“The government is not doing anything about our farmers being murdered,” claimed Debbie Els of the Stop Farm Murder/Attacks Movement. She called the murders “terrorist attacks”. She said that the protest was taking place because they were “gatvol” and taking a stance.
Reading out a memorandum to the crowd, Els said: “Farm attacks and farm murders are blatantly being ignored.” She claimed that government was being “complicit”.
“Without farmers we are facing hunger,” she said. Els said that farms were soft targets for crime because of their remote locations and that farms needed to be protected and labelled a “national key point”.
State protection demanded
Some of the demands include protection from the state and assistance with security equipment and training.
“We need to ensure that we secure our breadbasket,” she said.
No one came to accept the memorandum.
AfriForum estimated that there were 57 farm murders in 2019. Last year, the group warned that the number of farm attacks in the Western Cape “increased extremely”.
A biker “burns rubber” during the protest.
Hundreds of people, many on bikes, protested outside Parliament on Saturday morning against farm murders.
Sihle Ngobese, who goes by the name of Big Daddy Liberty, called on all South Africans, regardless of race, to unite.
“In this country, it is the politicians who try and divide us,” he said.
Ngobese added that he was proud to see South Africans standing up for the farming community.
“I love our flag. I love our family and I call for freedom!” he said. “It is time for us to draw the line in the sand and say enough is enough.”
“People are killing the people that feed us,” said Vanessa Minnie. “We need to support our farmers and save their lives.”
She claimed that the government needed to acknowledge that there was a problem and have forums in place to deal with the issues.
“Farmers desperately need security,” she said.
