Cyril Ramaphosa
Source: Bigstock
For someone with my background, reading the enraged writings of the liberal “legacy” (mainly white) media in South Africa attacking President Trump for his unprovoked “ambush” of President Ramaphosa at the White House two weeks ago, and for the peddling of “fake news” by alleging a “genocide” is unfolding in the country, has been a disheartening experience.
All eyes in the White House and much of the world were on Julius Malema singing his now-infamous “kill the Boer” song. I remember a song very similar to this from the 1970s during the Rhodesian war when it was sung by members of Robert Mugabe’s and Joshua Nkomo’s “liberation” movements with the same gusto, and I also learned the hard way that they meant it.
During the war they killed 318 farmers, wives, and children, and after Mugabe took power, they killed another ninety. This is a significant number of murders considering the total number of white farmers was approximately 5,000. Those who hung on in spite of the deadly danger were finally evicted in the violent land seizures ordered by President Mugabe in 2000. This might be overstated as a “genocide,” but it certainly was an ethnic cleansing, and it crippled the country’s economy. It should also be noted that when Mugabe decided to “cleanse” the land of his white countrymen, this had the unequivocal support of the ANC government, then led by President Thabo Mbeki, and President Ramaphosa has never voiced any criticism of this outrage. Throughout his tenure in political power, Ramaphosa has stood solidly behind the ruling ZANU PF party, no matter how badly they have behaved. This support buttressed the regime, but with the collapse of the economy it is estimated that more than 3 million Zimbabweans have fled their homeland for South Africa, exacerbating the serious unemployment problem already plaguing the country.
“I fear the worst for a people who seem to have fought for generations for the simple longing to be left alone to enjoy their own language, culture, and religion.”
This tragedy took place in full view of the abovementioned editors and columnists, and yet they have chosen to ignore it and insist that the songs and rantings from EFF (Economic Freedom Front) leader Julius Malema should be trivialized, and the real problem facing the country is Trump. I find it astonishing what “white guilt,” gutlessness, and Trump Derangement Syndrome can do to very intelligent, well-informed people. On the moot question of genocide they also choose to ignore another important lesson from history.
Adolf Hitler in 1930s Germany shrewdly read the popular mood when trying to grow his support by explaining in no uncertain terms, to a disgruntled majority, that their poverty was quite simply the consequence of the insatiable greed of Jews. We all know what followed, and Malema is now doing precisely the same, except he is blaming the Afrikaners. “Dispose of the ‘Boers’ by killing them if necessary, and all you poor people will be rich” is the message that is resonating with a growing audience. What makes the South African situation even more worrisome is the fact that Malema’s growing following is probably even angrier, more prone to violence, poorer, and less well-informed than the Germans were, making the matrix even more combustible and the possibility of a bloodbath even more likely.
If this does happen, it will be a truly tragic denouement of the story of the Boers. Being of Afrikaner parentage, with a family history in southern Africa stretching back roughly 350 years, I fear the worst for a people who seem to have fought for generations for the simple longing to be left alone to enjoy their own language, culture, and religion.
It was for this reason they fled Europe in the 17th century and arrived in small numbers on the southern shores of the continent to battle pestilence, poverty, and hostile tribes in a wilderness with no possibility of outside support. No sooner had they found their niche than the arrival of British suzerainty wrecked their newfound sanctuary and compelled them to trek north into another hostile wilderness to separate themselves. And again, scarcely had they settled into their new, hard-won homeland than their refuge was breached by new arrivals of varying ethnicities following the discovery of gold and diamonds. This development triggered the Boer War in 1899, and although they fought with enormous courage and skill, they were eventually overwhelmed by numbers and firepower and vanquished.
Their hold on political power lasted from 1948 to 1994, and their policy of “Separate Development” has been declared a “crime against humanity.” It was also a period of stupendous economic growth, and the infrastructural development that took place under Afrikaner rule made it by far the most developed country in Africa and comfortably positioned it as a First World nation.
Most of that infrastructure has been destroyed under ANC rule, and the economy is imploding amid rising unemployment, which is almost certainly going to lead to serious unrest and possibly civil war.
While a handful have found relief in the U.S., some 3,000 are now hunkered down on privately owned land in the hard, dry country of the Karoo in the town of Orania. Their hope that they would be left alone appears to be a forlorn one; Julius Malema’s EFF is leading the call for them to be invaded and evicted. They are determined to hold their ground, but if history is to repeat itself, they should probably take up the American offer and leave.