Protesting farm murders: a Great Trek to Cape Town
Image: Alaister Russell/The Times
More than a thousand people gathered outside Kanonkop wine estate near Stellenbosch on Monday morning to protest farm murders.
Supporters wore black t-shirts to protest the murder of farmers‚ after civil rights group AfriForum released statistics that showed commercial farmers are 4.5 times more likely to be killed than the South African population as a whole. The recent murder of Stellenbosch wine farmer Joubert Conradie also sent shock waves through the farming community.
The large convoy of bakkies‚ tractors‚ horse-drawn carts and farming trucks left Kanonkop to travel to Greenpoint Stadium near Cape Town’s CBD. They are expected to travel on Voortrekker Road instead of the N1‚ according to authorities from the City of Cape Town.
"We want government to take note of the scale of farmers being murdered and take action‚" said Oscar Papendorf‚ dressed in a black t-shirt bearing the slogan "Staan op teen plaasmoorde" -- or "Stand up against farm murders".
"We hope today’s mass action will show the frustration and anger we have towards the killing of our farmers."
The group is set to disperse from the CBD at 1pm.