Deputy President Mashatile’s Flower-Laying at Wall of Remembrance Sparks Outrage Among White Minority

Deputy President of South Africa Paul Mashatile’s gesture of laying flowers at the Wall of Remembrance in Nampo Park on May 14, 2025, has ignited fierce criticism from South Africa’s white minority, particularly Afrikaner farmers, who view the act as a contradictory and disrespectful political stunt.

The Wall, established in 2007, commemorates farmers and farm workers killed in farm attacks since 1961, a crisis that has claimed over 400 lives annually as of 2023, according to the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU).

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The backlash, evident in heated social media reactions, underscores deep-seated tensions between the ANC-led government and the Afrikaner community amid ongoing debates over farm murders, land reform, and racial rhetoric.