SOUTH AFRICAN GROUP PLANTS THOUSANDS OF CROSSES IN WASHINGTON TO HIGHLIGHT FARM MURDERS By Gabriel Manyati Around 3000 white crosses were planted on Washington’s National Mall on Saturday in memory of people killed in farm attacks across South Africa. The display, organised by Pretoria-based advocacy group Lex Libertas in partnership with the New York Young […]

SOUTH AFRICAN GROUP PLANTS THOUSANDS OF CROSSES IN WASHINGTON TO HIGHLIGHT FARM MURDERS

By Gabriel Manyati

Around 3000 white crosses were planted on Washington’s National Mall on Saturday in memory of people killed in farm attacks across South Africa.

The display, organised by Pretoria-based advocacy group Lex Libertas in partnership with the New York Young Republican Club, formed the centrepiece of the White Cross Project and aimed to force international attention onto a crisis that continues to devastate farming communities at home.

The crosses, each bearing a verified name of a victim, were installed on the lawn between 3rd and 4th Streets directly in front of the United States Capitol. Volunteers, including South African farm-attack survivors who travelled to the American capital, hammered them into the ground. The memorial was due to stand until late afternoon local time. It followed a conference the previous day at the National Press Club.

Three South Africans whose lives were upended by farm attacks took part in the programme: Amanda Platt, Heidie Taljaard and Leon Lotz. Platt survived a vicious assault on a farm outside Pietermaritzburg in August 2023, when six armed men forced their way into the home she shared with her husband. She was struck with a crowbar and stabbed with a spear.

Taljaard was photographed installing crosses for her father, mother and sister, Dan, Breggie and Elzabie Brand. Lotz was expected to speak about the lasting effects of repeated attacks on his family and farming livelihood.

Lex Libertas executive director Dr Ernst Roets said the project was designed to make the human cost of farm murders impossible to ignore.

“This project will portray the reality of farm murders in one of the most visible locations in the world. Each cross will represent the name and story of a person whose life was claimed by this crisis. We want to ensure that these victims are not forgotten and that the international community can no longer pretend that this problem does not exist,” he said.

“Our purpose, however, is not merely to draw attention to the crisis, but to present practical solutions and mobilise support for those solutions.”

Roets added: “These are not merely names on a list and they are not just statistics.” Organisers said a research team had verified the names since 1990, with a preliminary list exceeding 2200 victims.

The broader campaign includes a documentary, a petition seeking a United States special envoy for Afrikaners and other cultural minorities, and calls for peaceful decentralisation and self-governance.

The initiative has drawn sharp criticism inside South Africa. South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Roelf Meyer, rejected suggestions of political persecution.

“With every murder in South Africa, whether it’s farm murders, township murders or gang violence, we must have empathy and sympathy. But to call it political persecution is very dangerous, because first of all, it’s not true, and secondly, there is no proof,” he told eNCA.

Afrikaners for SA accused Lex Libertas of treating victims as political props and presenting a distorted picture of the country. The group argued that violent crime affects every community and that available evidence points mainly to robbery rather than a coordinated racial campaign.

“South Africans should not pay the price for a small faction’s political point-scoring and fundraising in America,” it said.

The White Cross Project echoes the long-standing Witkruis Monument in Limpopo, where white crosses have marked farm-attack deaths for years. While organisers insist the Washington display honours the dead and seeks practical solutions, critics maintain it risks deepening divisions and misleading foreign audiences about the complex nature of South Africa’s crime problem.

As the crosses stood on the National Mall, the event underlined how farm attacks remain a raw and contested issue for many South Africans, both those who have lost family and those who reject the political framing now being projected onto the international stage.