Black Farmworkers Call South African Farm Attacks Genocide

Derek VanBuskirk, a Daily Caller reporter, shared insights from his week-long investigation in South Africa on Rebelcast with editor-in-chief Dylan Housman, revealing a striking contrast: black farmworkers were more likely to label the violence against white farmers as a genocide than Afrikaners, who were more reserved.

This caution may stem from AfriForum’s rejection of the “white genocide” narrative, particularly after recent treason accusations from the South African government.

VanBuskirk noted that black farmworkers, often living alongside white communities, witnessed brutal farm attacks firsthand. One worker described a horrifying incident, leading her to call the violence genocidal, a term some Afrikaners avoided. AfriForum, a key Afrikaner advocacy group, has distanced itself from the “white genocide” label, especially after the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, filed treason charges against it in February 2025. The MK party accused AfriForum of spreading misinformation about the Expropriation Act, influencing U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order cutting aid to South Africa and offering Afrikaners refugee status. AfriForum’s CEO, Kallie Kriel, called the charges “absurd,” with legal experts like Lawson Naidoo dismissing them as baseless, noting lobbying doesn’t constitute treason.

VanBuskirk’s travels took him to Orania, an Afrikaner-only city, and Brits, where he patrolled with AfriForum’s private security, which uses drones and K-9 units due to inadequate police response. He found the attacks, often targeting the 7% white minority, involve extreme brutality, like torture, though critics attribute them to robbery because the South African Police Service often file farm attacks under “House Robbery.” AfriForum’s cautious stance may reflect a strategy to maintain international credibility while advocating for solutions like cultural autonomy amid South Africa’s tense racial and political landscape.

⚠️ This post by VanBuskirk is too graphics to embed!

@JacquesBroodryk comforts Astrid Poorter as she reads a letter written from the perspective of her late mother, one of two parents who died following an attack on their South African flower farm.

The pain doesn't end with the victims; it lives on in those left behind. pic.twitter.com/H0Njueqthm

— Derek VanBuskirk (@DerekVBK) June 7, 2025

A former South African schoolteacher, Anet Coetzee, woke up to a double-barrel shotgun shoved through her window. She only had time to cry out to God before the blast tore through her face and arm, knocking her to the floor.

She lost her right eye and most of her teeth that… pic.twitter.com/3RC3AHMRgN

— Derek VanBuskirk (@DerekVBK) June 5, 2025