Attacks on South Africa’s predominantly white farmers increased by 21 percent in the third quarter of 2023, with 88 attacks launched for an average of almost one per day.
The figures were collected by the Community Safety Division of AfriForum, a civil rights organization with a focus on the Afrikaans-speaking white minority, often referred to as Boers. Covering the period from July to September, they contrast with 73 farm attacks from April to June, although murders during farm attacks are down from 23 to 13.
The attackers, who average 2.33 per incident, generally target the elderly, with the average age of the average age of their victims being over 60.
Rhetoric against Afrikaners and the white minority more generally in South Africa has intensified in recent months, with Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party leading packed stadiums in chants of “shoot to kill… kill the Boer, the farmer.”
The South African government, led by the African National Congres (ANC), is also targeting white farmers, by pushing to expropriate and redistribute their land without compensation and forcing them to submit to onerous “black economic empowerment” regulations or face restrictions on their ability to export to the United Kingdom and the European Union.
