Whites ‘Advantaged’ Blacks

Pretoria — Black South Africans were better off for the arrival of whites in the country, white farmers’ union TAU SA said on Tuesday.

“South Africa’s blacks were advantaged because of the presence of whites, not disadvantaged,” it said in a statement lamenting the impact of transformation on the commercial farming sector.

“They (blacks) can live decent lives thanks to the people whom their government wishes to destroy through affirmative action, farm harassment and heavy taxation.”

Reiterating calls for “immediate interaction” with the government, the group cited numerous examples of African failures under black rule.

The imposition of Western “civilisation” on the continent allowed it to flourish, with cities built mostly by Western colonialists, it claimed.

“After the wave of ‘independence’ which swept through the continent in the sixties, seventies and even the eighties, black Africa declined, spectacularly so. In many areas it has regressed to what it was before whites came.”

The union claims a country-wide membership of 6 000 white commercial farmers.

South Africa, it claimed, was the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to flourish.

“And everybody knows this is because of the presence of four-million-odd whites. This is a fact.”

According to the statement, farmers were at the end of their tether.

It cited a memorandum presented at a recent Pretoria conference of the TAU by a group of farmers — mooting a struggle similar to that waged by the African National Congress if their fears were not addressed.

“This thinly-veiled reference to the tactics employed by the ANC to gain power in South Africa gives some insight into the level of frustration and anger building up within the white farming community,” the statement said.