Hillside of white crosses fuels misleading story about South Africa farm killings

Africanews (in English)

Hillside of white crosses fuels misleading story about South Africa farm killings  Nearly 3,000 white crosses dot a hillside at the Witkruis Monument, marking white farmers killed over 30 years. But it tells only part of the story. The site has fueled a false narrative of racial targeting, despite studies showing farm attacks affect all races in South Africa.    READ MORE : http://www.africanews.com/2025/06/16/hillside-of-white-crosses-fuels-misleading-story-about-south-africa-farm-killings  Subscribe on our Dailymotion channel and receive all the latest news from the continent.    Africanews is available in English and French.  Website : www.africanews.com  Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/africanews.channel/  Twitter : https://twitter.com/africanews

Transcript

00:00A hillside transformed into a sea of 3,000 white crosses.

00:06This is Witkreis Monument in South Africa,

00:10a memorial for white farmers killed over the last three decades.

00:15Each cross representing a life.

00:19The idea is to show people

00:22the greatness of this is

00:26how many farmers were murdered in South Africa

00:31and is still murdered every year.

00:35Every year when we do the planting,

00:37it's around about 50 crosses that's been planted

00:39for the last year's farmers that were brutally murdered.

00:44Some point to the monument as proof of a so-called genocide

00:48taking place against white farmers in South Africa.

00:51Even the memorial's caretaker says it doesn't tell the full story.

00:57It's across the board.

00:58There are black farmers that are also attacked,

01:00but it's not as much as the white farmers that are attacked

01:04and it's not as brutal.

01:06Normally, the workers are very affected

01:10because now they lose their income

01:12and some of them are also held and tortured a bit

01:17before they go into the house.

01:20They get information out of the house

01:23before they go to attack the farmer in the house.

01:26Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump

01:29have amplified the false white genocide narrative in South Africa.

01:34But studies show farm killings are rare,

01:36affect all races,

01:37and mostly target white farmers

01:39simply because they own most of the land.

01:42Although it is a huge concern, of course,

01:44to the farming community

01:45that they do fall victims to these attacks,

01:48those attacks are robberies.

01:51It's criminal individuals and groups

01:53that are targeting them

01:55because they're considered vulnerable

01:56and want to steal from them.

01:58And those groups also attack people in towns

02:00and in villages and in cities.

02:03So they're not only targeting farmers.

02:06So this idea that there's a particular campaign

02:08against white farmers is not true.

02:11Right-wing groups in and outside South Africa

02:15have fueled false claims of white persecution,

02:18despite whites making up just 7% of the population

02:21and no evidence supporting the so-called genocide theory.

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