It was Saturday the 4th of November that Mariaan and I joined the ‘Farm murder protest outside the South African Embassy at Trafalger Square. It was grey and miserable, typical November fare and we did not know what to expect as we are not really political activists of any kind, but Mariaan’s cousin Tilla and her husband Piet van Zyl were murdered on a farm in Limpopo in August, this was the second farm murder in her family, and we felt compelled to voice some kind of protest.

When we were on holiday in Cape Town in February, Danie Kilian, a pensioner was shot dead in his home in Leeupoort, two streets away from our house, days before we were due to visit my stepmother there, that was another rude shock. At first we were a small motley group, but it gradually swelled to a sizable crowd on the pavement in front of the embassy. The mood was a mix of grief, sadness and anger, grief about the loss of loved ones, which is compounded by brutal way in which they were killed, sadness about the senseless futility of these acts and anger at the indifferent, useless ANC government. As you can see on the photo we were mostly white, but several black speakers also voiced their frustration and one black lady was adament that the people in government knew who these perpertrators are and won’t do anything to stop them. The overwhelming sentiments were voiced in the chants that we repeated a few times, which come down to the fact that we love South Africa and all its peoples, we hate criminals and what they are doing to us, we resent the racial hate slogans, (kill the farmer kill the Boer, propagated by Malema and co) and that we are united in our quest for a better country for everyone. We actually felt better afterwards because we trust that the overwhelming majority of South Africans feel the same way.

When Afriforum asked us to disseminate the Farm Murder information sheet, I contacted the SA High Commission and asked for the opportunity to hand this over to the The Acting High Commissioner, Mr Golden Neswiswi, but got no response. After a few phone calls a helpful Ms Lyn de Jong, minister, Corporate Services, offered to make sure the High Commissioner’s office gets the research paper which I emailed, as well as the request tohand it over   in person, but alas Mr Neswisi replied with a curt message that the memorandum was ‘noted’ and he simply ignored my request to hand it over personally.

In contrast our local MP Mr Gordon Henderson was most helpful and understanding.