South Africa: White Farmers Arrested for Protesting, Which is “Inciting Violence”

The authoritarian left-wing attack on conservatives around the world is picking up steam: Five well-known Afrikaner activists are now on trial in South Africa for the crime of protesting, which the government calls “inciting violence.”

Political prisoners being persecuted worldwide include Tommy Robinson (now on trial in UK for eating breakfast in London), Julian Assange (facing his last extradition hearing for the crime of embarrassing Hillary Clinton, a capital offense) plus Peter Navarro, Rudy Giuliani, Owen Shroyer and all the J-6  political prisoners and persecuted Christians in the USA. US YouTuber Gonzalo Lira was tortured in prison and died in Ukrainian custody Jan 11. Bestselling German-Turkish author Akif Pirincci was sentenced to 9 months in prison Feb. 5 for “inciting hate” by criticizing mass illegal immigration.

Now five Afrikaner activists are being charged with “inciting violence” for protesting outside a courthouse in Groblersdal, Limpopo (former Northern Transvaal) Jan. 24. Three of the five appeared in court Monday, the fourth claiming medical grounds for not appearing. The fifth was arraigned Feb. 8.

The accused include prominent YouTuber Willem Petzer and the son of top Afrikaner country music star Steve Hofmeyr, Devon Hofmeyr. Devon is co-director of the Bittereinders civil defense movement, named after the Afrikaners who vowed to fight to the “bitter end” in the Second Boer War 1899-1902. Co-defendants are Tewie Wessels and Dries Olivier, who claimed medical reasons for not appearing in court.

Petzer, Hofmeyr and the Bittereinders had called for protests outside the trial of farmers Piet Groenewald (63) and son Stephan Greef (27), who stand accused of sic’ing a dog on a black farm worker in Grobersdal in a violent altercation Jan. 17. The farmers claimed the farm worker Veneruru Kavari (30) was drunk and destructive, and attacked them with a panga (machete) and a pick axe handle.

Without any reports of altercations or violence, police accused Petzer, Hofmeyr, Wessels  and Olivier with “inciting violence” and called for their arrest. The four decided to surrender to police and face trial voluntarily, as Petzer said in video Monday morning.

The other Bittereinders co-director Francois van der Merwe (25) was arrested for protesting outside the courthouse as well and arraigned  Feb. 8. Van der Merwe was initially charged with assault for protesting outside the courthouse, but the charges were then reduced to “inciting violence”.

Van der Merwe said in an affidavit the police tried to prevent him from “protesting in a peaceful manner and with permission”, rnews reports.

On the morning of Feb. 12, Willem Petzer posted a video on Facebook announcing he was driving to surrender to police, and “this will probably be the last video you’ll see of me in quite a few weeks.”

Van der Merwe’s hearing was delayed Feb. 8 because of blackouts. South Africa is now without power 9 hours a day or more.

“The Afrikaner’s last democratic instruments are slowly being stripped from him”, country star Steve Hofmeyr wrote of his son’s arrest. “Our right to protest is being called  terrorism. We are being made an example of while the killers are exonerated. They did it to me. They will do it to our sons, too.”

Die BoereAfrikaner se laaste demokratiese instrumente word stadig van hom gestroop. Sy reg op protes en betoog word as terrorisme bestempel. Hy word ‘n voorbeeld van gemaak terwyl ander bloeddorstiges gevrywaar word. Hulle doen dit aan my. Hulle sal dit aan ons seuns ook doen.

— Steve Hofmeyr (@steve_hofmeyr) February 12, 2024

Hofmeyr Senior played the lead role in South African movie Treurgrond (“Mourning Ground” 2015) about farm murders, which won Best Foreign Film at the 2018 International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in Amsterdam.

Crime has risen dramatically in South Africa, with 27,272 homicides 2022, or 46.6 per 100,000, making South Africa the most violent country in the world after Jamaica.

Homicide rates among the farmer community are even higher. There were 182 Farm attacks and 45 farm murders in 2023, up from 156 Farm attacks and 39 farm murders 2022, South Africa Today reports. With a farmer population of roughly 25.000, that would mean a murder rate of 180 per 100.000.

Farm attacks were up 21% in the third quarter of 2023. According to AfriForum Spokesperson for Community Safety Jacques Broodryk, the third quarter 2023 saw the highest number of recorded farm attacks for the year.

69-year-old Aletta Potgieter was attacked  on her farm in KwaZulu-Natal province on Sunday while her husband was at church. Four armed men confronted Aletta on her way to milk the cows, but the spunky farmer’s wife struck the weapon from one man’s hand because she thought it was a toy gun. The attackers then assaulted her, dragged her into the house and forced her to open the safe, stealing valuables and firearms. She managed to free herself from he bonds at approx. 10 a.m.

You can donate for the Bittereinders defense via Paypal at:

Vorsters Inc. Trust
[email protected]

Readers often comment that white Afrikaners should leave their homeland.

We have been assured the Boere will die where they were born.

The likely future leader of South Africa calls for genocide of the 4 million whites who live there https://t.co/MNEzOUaN1L

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2024