TLU SA today issued an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, in which the organisation sets out its viewpoints and concerns regarding the current state of affairs in South Africa. The letter aims to contribute constructively to the public conversation and to bring the challenges affecting agricultural producers and communities to the President’s attention.Dear Mr Ramaphosa
Today we can only say to you: “Look at the scoreboard.” You go to great lengths to project the image that things are actually going well in South Africa. The harsh reality is that the people of South Africa are finding it increasingly difficult to believe you. Considering that the ANC inherited in 1994 the strongest economy in Africa, with functioning institutions, functional infrastructure, relatively low crime rates and low unemployment, one must inevitably ask: What is the current state of all these aspects? Mr Ramaphosa, your scorecard does not look good. Over the past 30 years, ANC policy has robbed the people of South Africa of their future.
Corruption at all levels of government has become endemic. Investigation after investigation, and announcement after announcement about action to be taken, are regularly heard. Unfortunately, nowhere do we see the practical implementation needed to hold the guilty to account. Your credibility regarding crime prevention is severely undermined by this lack of action.
As a government, you have a constitutional duty to ensure the safety of the citizens. This begins with the political will to fulfil that responsibility. As a government, you must give account for your handling of crime. The statistics speak for themselves, and the current inquiry into the SAPS’s integrity and ability to act as the state’s security force only widens the gap between the public and the police. The SAPS should be the citizens’ greatest ally, yet trust in the service is currently at a record low.
In these circumstances, an amendment to firearm legislation is being proposed that will leave law-abiding citizens at the mercy of criminals who continue to possess more than enough illegal firearms. The removal of firearms in any form, especially from our farmers, but also more broadly, can, given the crime realities, rightly be seen as a crime against the people of our country.
While you address the nation with fine words about how wonderful things are supposedly becoming, more murders were committed over the same weekend, including an attack of such brutality on an elderly farmer, while his wife was forced to watch, that it cannot be described. As Head of State, you are responsible for the safety of the citizens, yet you remain silent.
Although approximately 35,000 commercial farmers produce more than 90% of South Africa’s food, arguably the country’s greatest strategic asset, we continue to experience an absent government when it comes to their safety and support. If you truly take seriously the responsibility of the position you occupy, you will:
- Declare farm attacks a priority crime, and ensure the necessary support through trained and properly equipped SAPS members, drawn from a cleansed and trustworthy SAPS, who can fulfil their duties in cooperation with the community;
- Clearly and decisively condemn those who persist in creating a hostile climate through so-called “struggle songs” chanting “kill the boer, kill the farmer”. Were such songs to be sung against politicians or any other group, they would immediately be labelled hate speech;
- End the abuse of BEE legislation, which enriches only a select few cadres while disadvantaging the many who are unemployed due to a declining economy caused by your policy environment. Focus instead on expertise and the factors that will drive economic growth.
The results of your transformation policies are clear for all to see. A functioning country has been reduced to one begging for aid from nations that understand what is required to create prosperity: a sound policy environment and responsible governance.
You are seeking a scapegoat whom you claim is spreading misinformation to the United States. Yet the consequences of what your government has failed to achieve over 30 years, the collapse of infrastructure, the corruption, and the self-enrichment of cadres, are visible to all. South Africa’s truth is conveyed to the world by you and your support base. To find the real scapegoat should be easy: simply look in a mirror. You can only keep impressing the international community for so long, and pursue court cases, while your own people are exposed to worsening suffering. The truth keeps surfacing and cannot forever be disguised as misinformation. The intelligence agencies of major world powers are well informed about global events without needing to rely on civil organisations.
The people of South Africa want a stable future for our children. We await your action and your stance, which will show whether the future of the country’s people truly matters to you, or whether, at the end of the day, it is only about the pockets of cadres and the survival of the ANC.
