Kill the Boer: Government Complicity in South Africa's Brutal Farm Murders

by Ernst Roets

Understand the brutal reality of farm murders in South Africa.

Grasp the true extent of the problem, and the complicity of the South African government in the crisis.

Equip yourself with the facts.

“Kill The Boer is vital for anyone who wishes to understand the farm attack/murder phenomenon within the greater context of the South African milieu.”
- Roman Cabanac, Politicsweb

Kill the Boer highlights why these attacks are different – in their disproportionate frequency, the extreme brutality, the crucial role that farmers have to play in uplifting South Africa, and the unique circumstances they find themselves in.

To what extent is the South African government complicit in these attacks?

Learn about the history of land ownership and the extent of hate speech and racism in South Africa, particularly targeting white farmers.

If you enjoy books about crime, history, and politics then you will find this book fascinating, because it illuminates for the first time the true extent of a crisis from which the world should learn.
Data driven Personal victim accounts Statistical analysis of the crisis Crucial reports Hear the shocking stories from the inside “A most brave and important book, thoroughly researched, and one that will save lives and livelihoods.”
- Dr. Frans Cronje, CEO of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR)

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Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Africa, South Africa

439 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 25, 2019

About the author

Ernst Alex Roets is a political activist, writer and filmmaker in South Africa. He is Deputy CEO of civil rights group AfriForum and the CEO of the film production company Forum Films.

Reviews

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

WARNING: NOT FOR SENSITIVE READERS!!

English definition of BOER:
1) Farmer
2) In slang it is a white person in South Africa, mostly used in a derogatory way

This was a very difficult read for me and at times I had to put it down to just compose myself again, as this book hits close to home. I am a farmer in South Africa, and I am white, I also have friends that farm close to me that have been brutally attacked and by the grace of God they survived. The book sent chills down my spine as I have a young family and know what it is to fear for their lives every day, especially when the sun goes down and the last thing I do before going to bed, is to check that our house is secure, and of being threatened with my life on the streets just because of the color of my skin.

The book is not easy reading and graphic in it's detail about the brutal attacks on farmers in South Africa where entire families are butchered (murder is too mild a word to describe it) and at times tortured for hours until they are dead.

The book is a fact based book that gives you the hard facts about life on a farm in South Africa, where the murders of farmers and their families have for the last three decades averaged MORE THAN ONE PER WEEK, and farm attacks occur at average MORE THAN ONE PER DAY. The fact that you are TWICE as likely to be murdered on your farm than a police officer losing his life in the line of duty in South Africa should speak for itself. This all happens while the South African government turns a blind eye on this and does not want to make this a priority crime, while racializing the events and ridiculing victims and activists.

The words "KILL THE BOER" was a popular Struggle song for the ruling party, the ANC, in the Apartheid years, but are still sung in different forms by leading politicians at massive rallies, including ex-president Jacob Zuma, although it has been outlawed as hate speech. And facts show that in the months after this happens, farm attacks and murders goes up at an alarming rate.

Ernst Roets is a minority activist fighting for the rights of farmers in South Africa just to have the right to life, but at every turn he is actively opposed by a government that does not want the truth to come out about the butchering of farmers in their homes, as it does not fit their narrative.

Along with a government trying to block his efforts, there are many other obstacles in his way, these include: top ranking government and police officials that tells lies, leading politicians singing songs of murder under the guise of freedom of speech, a biased media telling half-truths and setting up false narrative, a police force that are not up to standard and filled with corruption and members actively taking part in these crimes and a judicial system that does not function properly where criminals almost have more rights than victims.

At the beginning the book is dedicated to Wilmien Potgieter, a 2-year old girl who was shot in the head and killed after her father was stabbed 151 times till dead and her mother killed execution-style thereafter. The brutality of this attack is just a glimpse into these heinous events. And the irony of this is that our president calls on the nation to fight violence against women and children, but will do nothing to actively combat these farm murders where women and children are victims of brutal crimes. The South African government have also claimed to champion racial equality and reconciliation, but since the end of Nelson Mandela's reign as president, this is untrue.

This is the book of the plight of a minority, just like so many other minorities being oppressed worldwide, and if this review can just reach one person I will be happy. Thank you for your bravery and your book Mr. Roets, this is a must read if you want the true story of life on a South African farm.

[Helga · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been said that "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". And when one puts a lid on systematic tortures and murders or just by remaining silent, encourages wanton infliction of pain, because it is more convenient if it were all swept under the carpet or it would smell less pungent if the truth were twisted just a tiny bit, or when one claims that the problem isn’t serious and not worth investigating, or when one validates the crimes and advertises the fact that the victims deserved to be killed, then one is complicit in the crime. One is guilty. One is the devil-incarnate.

I know next to nothing about the politics in South Africa, and honestly, I had never heard about farm murders and tortures before. I read about it for the first time in J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace where at some point the main character and his daughter are attacked at her farm. His daughter is raped and he is tortured and burnt. I considered it mere fiction; an exaggeration or a one off incident. But unfortunately I was wrong. This book which is the non-fiction equivalent of an extreme horror story and my own research into the matter prove me wrong.

There is one thing I know and believe. Murder in the name of religion, principles, ideology or history is not justifiable.

[Ilse Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is very well written! Exactly explains what is going on in South Africa. Not for sensitive readers as it is very graphic. Need to get more people to read the book. My personal favorite for 2019! Well done Ernst for still fighting and believing in SA.

[Barry Welsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating. Enraging.

[Sharyn Grainger]

A highly recommended read for South Africans and those individuals living outside of South Africa wondering what the hell is going on in the country. The book is full of facts. Incidents descriptions and the reasons why these atrocities occur. Please read it.

[Gerhard Koen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Factually Brilliant

The author, Ernst Roets brings facts and detailed data analysis to an extremely emotional (At least in South Africa) matter.

[Joel Hammett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragically moving, graphically horrifying

** Warning - this book is filled with graphic descriptions of the awful tortures and murders of many farmers. Read with caution.

Some will read this book and shudder at the graphic descriptions, and perhaps criticize Roets for that graphic nature. However, in my opinion, this is a necessary evil. The amount of heartbreak, loss, and trauma experienced by the victims of farm attacks is stunning.

I found his perspective to be very balanced. He is not a right-wing extremist: he is far too balanced for that. What he says is reality. He does a spectacularly thorough job of citing all of his claims, and backing up conclusions with verifiable evidence. He does not spread rumor.

Read if you want to understand the reality, depth, and magnitude of the circumstances many farmers in South Africa face. Read if you want to shed a tear at the stories of families shattered, loved ones murdered.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a genocide going on right now in South Africa that the media refuses to admit is a genocide because it doesn’t fit their narrative, so to look up “South African Farm Attacks.”
The South African government is doing an ethnic cleaning against white farmers - systemically raping, torturing, and slaughtering - to steal their land so the politicians can get rich - without the rest of the world caring.
This book bears witness.

The South African government claims it’s not committing genocide against white farmers.
White farmers just hApPeN to be getting raped, tortured, and slaughtered in a mass ethnic cleansing… using government machetes and guns, government torture methods, and at the command of government speeches.
Oh, and politicians are getting rich off the land the steal from dead people today - right now - as we speak.

[Jay Plat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read about what is really happening in South Africa today. It is factually written and clearly tells the story of the dangers South African farmers face on a daily basis, as well as the lack of support they receive from their govt, the ANC.

[Miné · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world must know.

[James Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected a one-sided argument in favour of recognising the importance of farm murders in South Africa. Instead what I read was a well reasoned, nuanced and balanced overview of the analyses which shed some light on the brutal reality, two-tiered governance, and systemic bias which has, until recently, kept the ugly truth of this issue mostly buried away from the collective consciousness. It is worth noting that the descriptions of almost every single of the many cases of farm attacks and murders detailed within this book are highly disturbing and graphic; they can be exceptionally difficult to read.

Overall a must-read for anyone curious about the reality of this contentious politicised issue.

[Ari Damoulakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

And those bastards are still allowed to enjoy singing it.
Anyway if anything ever happens to our Afrikaner farmers, there is a wonderful Afrikaans saying: boontjie kry sy loontjie.
It will be managed and become like Zim 2.0.
Just a pity, like Zim, the decent poor will suffer most, not the people responsible for the tragedy.
Oh yes, and the academics who write that a very few farm murders are political, don’t forget that statistics can be spun and sellective, cases can also be interpreted and sellected by the ivory-towered academic who lives in a safe gated community and knows that bashing conservative Afrikaner farmers scores brownie points.
The one right thing Trump has done is to offer Afrikaners refugee status. BEE addresses the past, but it still takes the job away from the Afrikaner, and why should they be forced to put up with not being able to provide for their families, never mind people also singing they must be shot. It is sometimes still unclear which ultimate direction the ‘rainbow nation’ could take, but, hopefully it would be quite a long time for it to change if it chooses the wrong direction, if the law counts for anything here, at least the ‘revolutionary forces’ will need much more power to amend the constitution.

https://youtu.be/2D-52QdAI1Q?si=jXSEn...-

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ernst Roets' account of the war on South Africa's Boers depicts what happens to all societies unmoored from the Rule of Law. Almost 30 years ago I attended a celebration of the post-apartheid South Africa hosted by the South African Ambassador to Israel. During that celebration a member of South Africa's diplomatic corps to Israel explained to me that post-apartheid South Africa would be successful because their rejection of the past was homegrown and not externally imposed upon them. The then new South Africa was a shining example of universal respect for the individual upheld by fidelity to the Rule of Law. No longer would a citizen's race determine how his government would allocate his civil rights. Now, more than two decades on, Professor Roet's account of South African politics reflects a South Africa which has reverted to its apartheid past except for the fact that now the rulers are black African embracing the bigotry of their white predecessors. The world which embraced Mandela's victory for human rights over bigotry and hate now choses to ignore the hatred and bigotry which made the pre-Mandela South Africa a pariah nation has once again taken firm control of South Africa's governing system. That Roets has chosen to lay bare the realities of his existence in such a public manner speaks to his courage and commitment to expose the nature of tyranny which has replaced the dream of enlightened liberalism in South Africa.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is deeply disturbing. I thought that the "not for sensitive readers" warning on the cover was an American-style mock trigger warning, but I was wrong. Apparently, I am a sensitive reader, because I certainly found this book hard to read at points. I did not know anything about farm murders when this book was given to me, except passing references to them being an invented phenomenon. After reading this book, I know a lot more about them and realize they are not made up. The book is fairly well organized, and I liked the graphics and lists. That said, I had some confusion about some of Roets' points. He argues that farm murderers are not motivated by money, but rather that they commit these attacks as crimes of passion after being stirred up by anti-Boer sentiment. However, he also emphasizes that these crimes are premeditated and involve weeks or months of planning. I found this to be somewhat contradictory and felt that it weakened his argument, which was strong overall.

[Roozbeh Bozorgmanesh]

The modern South Africa has been a symbol of political tolerance in many people's minds. We have heard countless stories of the atrocities of the whites towards the blacks and colored. But since the fall of apartheid the page has turned. The crimes are rising, corruption is visible, racial battles are far from done and the [ANC] government is inept.
In this book Ernst Roets is providing scientific facts and data added to cruelty of crimes in a very important section of the South African community, the farmers. While the writer intense effort for data gathering is admiring, he also tells truly hurtful (and sometimes disturbing) incidents of the farm murders for the reader.
I simultaneously watched a bunch of documentaries like: "Disrupted land" and "Tainted heroes" and was amazed by my lack of knowledge on the other side of the story.
If you never heard of murder farm in South Africa or you are enthusiastic in following how the modern South Africa is doing, this book can be a good source for you.

[Jayde Schwerin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written! If anyone wants to know the truth about South Africa then they should read this book. It does not get anymore real than this. My hat off to the author Ernst Roets.