Columnist says Afrikaners' situation in South Africa is being politicized — Daily Maverick
Afrikaners in the Republic of South Africa are being used in the political confrontation between Pretoria and Washington, while the problems of violence, land reform and racial rhetoric are not evidence of a “white genocide.” This position was expressed in an opinion column by an Afrikaner from South Africa, Daily Maverick reports.
The author acknowledges the reality of attacks on farmers and rural communities, but believes that the available data do not confirm a systematic campaign to destroy white farmers. The Institute for Security Studies, citing AfriForum data, noted that 49 murders were recorded on farms in the 2023–2024 financial year — approximately 0.2% of the 27,621 murders in the country. A total of 296 farm attacks were also registered, accounting for about 0.7% of all robberies.
Violence and rhetoric
According to the author, these figures primarily indicate an extremely high level of violent crime and insufficient effectiveness of South Africa’s criminal justice system. He emphasizes that victims of violence in rural areas are not only white people, although some individual attacks may have a racial dimension.
The column also examines the song Dubul’ iBhunu, known for the line “Kill the Boer.” In 2022, South Africa’s Equality Court found that it did not constitute hate speech under the circumstances of the specific case, and in 2024 the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld that decision. In March 2025, the Constitutional Court refused AfriForum leave to appeal. The author believes that the legal permissibility of this expression does not rule out its possible negative impact on social cohesion.
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Land, economy and foreign policy
The author notes that South Africa’s Expropriation Act does not allow the indiscriminate confiscation of private property. It retains the constitutional requirement for just and equitable compensation, provides for judicial review and specifies cases in which zero compensation may be considered just and equitable. In August 2026, parliament was informed of 8,913 unresolved claims by land tenant workers, while reducing the broader backlog of claims submitted before 1998 would require about 56 billion rand, according to the relevant department’s estimate.
The column criticizes the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment system, which, in the author’s view, has failed to ensure broad economic inclusion of the Black population. According to the cited World Bank data, South Africa’s average unemployment rate in 2025 was 32.4%, while nearly 60% of the population lived below the poverty line for upper-middle-income countries.
The author also links the deterioration in relations with the United States to South Africa’s foreign policy. He notes that the country applied to the International Court of Justice over Israel’s actions in Gaza in December 2023, but abstained during the United Nations General Assembly vote in March 2022 on a resolution demanding that Russia — the aggressor state — stop its invasion of Ukraine and withdraw its troops.
