Donald Trump must intervene in SA – Black Monday protesters

Several marches are set to take place across South Africa on Monday to mark Black Monday, a protest against farm murders that organisers are hoping will become an annual occurrence.

While last year the protests were marked by a series of convoys, some of which brought traffic to a standstill, this year international attention is the protest’s main aim, with protesters planning to submit memorandums to the US and Australian embassies.

National Conservative Party‘s Valerie Byliefeldt, among the organisers of the protest, told The South African: “At the main event, where we will be handing over our memorandum in Pretoria, we want to ask Donald Trump to intervene with the issue of farm murders in South Africa. We are directly asking him for help.

The National Conservative Party was formed in 2016, and has registered as a political party. They have indicated their intention of contesting the 2019 election.

READ MORE: #BlackMonday protest divides South Africans

“Cyril Ramaphosa has lied to people about the existence of this problem. He went on live television and denied farm murders exist when there have been 62 in the last year. We want to bring this to the attention of the American government.”

One tweet about the protest tagged notable figures of the international right who are known to have expressed concern over the situation. These include Trump, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Fox News’s conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson, Canadian far-right activist Lauren Southern and controversial UK celebrity commentator Katie Hopkins.

Past protests have been marred by accusations of racism and the controversial presence of the old South African flag. Byliefeldt said the flag “will not be tolerated” this year and its use is “not condoned” by the organisers.

A Facebook group called Busting the Myth of White Genocide in SA, however, is attempting to draw attention to the continued use of racism and antisemitic imagery and language by Black Monday protesters, calling the protests “white supremacist propaganda”.

One Black Monday poster calls farm murders “a slow genocide”. The description of farm murders in SA as a “genocide” has long been controversial, with minority rights group AfriForum distancing itself from the term “white genocide” and saying they do not and have not used it.

The same poster also includes an antisemitic slogan asserting that “the modern-day Jew and the world remains silent” about farm murders.

Picture: Facebook.

The Busting the Myth of White Genocide in SA page has also posted images advertising a counter-protest, calling on people to wear “all the colours you can find” to show that “all people of South Africa experience violence”.

Prominent politicians in both the US and Australia have recently shown concern over the land situation in SA as well as farm murders.

Trump took to Twitter, saying that he plans to “closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large-scale killing of farmers.”

His tweet followed a report on the matter by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, leading some to believe Trump’s views are largely informed by those of the conservative pundit.

AfriForum, meanwhile, believed they “played a role” in the tweet.

In March, Australian home affairs minister Pete Dutton called for South African farmers to be granted refugee status in a statement that was slammed by the South African government.

Andrew Hastie, chair of the country’s parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, echoed Dutton’s calls, urging “persecuted” SA farmers to approach Australia’s refugee and humanitarian program.

AfriForum has since travelled to Australia, meeting with Hastie and others to lobby for support for their cause.

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