KEY POINTS
- Western Cape farm killings do not support genocide claims.
- Government denies racial motivation behind rural attacks.
- Farm murder statistics show most victims are African.
Senzo Mchunu, South Africa’s minister of police, denied claims of a genocide against white farmers on Friday.
Mchunu disputes genocide claims tied to farm murders in South Africa
Mchunu reacted after six attacks involving farms were recorded in the fourth quarter of the 2024–2025 fiscal year, which ran from January 1 to March 31. Race was not a factor in the attacks, according to officials.
Mchunu declared, “We do not classify victims by race.” “But we need to make it clear who was killed in the context of genocide claims.”
Five Africans were among the six victims of attacks on farms: two farm owners, two workers, and one management. According to Mchunu, one farm inhabitant was white.
According to him, the story of white genocide is false and misrepresents the reality of farm killings in South Africa. Black South Africans have always been disproportionately affected by farm murders, he continued.
Regardless of color, Mchunu underlined that the **National Rural Safety Strategy** seeks to make all rural communities safer.
In response to claims of “land grabbing,” the minister said the phrase is abused. He made a distinction between land invasions and land grabs, claiming that the latter are the result of desperation.
Land invasions are different from “land grabs,” Mchunu clarifies
According to Mchunu, “land invasions are not government policy.” They are primarily individual actions taken by homeless people in need of housing. They are still illegal.
South Africa’s farming community is not under assault, according to Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), but it does suffer more crime.
According to Iol, “land expropriation cannot occur without compensation.” “Under a market-based economy, property rights are unaffected.”
Mchunu’s endorsement of the National Rural Safety Strategy was welcomed by Agri SA President Jaco Minnaar, although he noted that implementation is still lacking.
According to Minnaar, “poor execution and resource allocation are the challenge.” “To address this, we are collaborating with the police and minister.”
The CEO of Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai), Francois Rossouw, praised the addition of agricultural attacks to official crime statistics but cautioned that the figures might be underestimated.
“Due to limited policing capacity, many crimes in rural areas go unreported or are misclassified,” Rossouw stated. “That erodes confidence in law enforcement.”
He claimed that a lack of enforcement and a blurring of the boundaries between land invasions and land grabs was undermining trust in the rule of law.
