Diplomatic row erupts over Peter Dutton’s potential offer to help South Africa’s white farmers
A FURIOUS South African government has hauled Australia’s High Commissioner in for talks and is demanding Peter Dutton retract his comments about the plight of persecuted white farmers.
A DIPLOMATIC row with South Africa is heating up over Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s comments about white farmers being persecuted with the furious country now demanding a retraction.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed Australia’s High Commissioner to South Africa was called in for talks with the nation’s government overnight.
Today, she said the message Australia was sending to South Africa was to ensure the security of “all of their citizens”.
Reuters reports High Commissioner Adam McCarthy was hauled in for a diplomatic scolding overnight after Mr Dutton directed the Department of Home Affairs to look at whether the farmers could be brought to Australia on humanitarian visas.
Ms Bishop did not directly comment on their talks but appeared to back Mr Dutton’s remarks this morning.
“I know the High Commissioner is very concerned that there were 19,000 murders reported in South Africa in 2017,” she told ABC radio.
“That’s why our travel advice to South Africa reflects that.
“The message that we urge upon the South African government is that they seek to ensure the security of all their citizens and we certainly urge the South African government to ensure all changes to land ownership, for example, are not disruptive to the economy, nor lead to violence.”
The diplomatic row flared this week after Mr Dutton told Miranda Live that he’d ordered his department to look at granting farmers humanitarian visas after reading News Corp Australia’s accounts of shocking violence against them because “on the information I’ve seen people do need help, and they need help from a civilised country like ours”.
His remarks included a description of white farmers facing “horrific circumstances”.
The South African Foreign Ministry said in a statement overnight: “The South African government is offended by the statements which have been attributed to the Australian Home Affairs Minister and a full retraction is expected.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stopped short of defending Mr Dutton’s comments today but insisted Australia had a non-discriminatory humanitarian program.
“Our program is thoroughly non-discriminatory,” the prime minister told reporters in Sydney.
“We have a very large community of Australians of South African ancestry, from every background, and they also make a phenomenal contribution to our very successful multicultural society.”
Earlier, South Africa said Mr Dutton should have raised the matter through diplomatic channels.
“There is no reason for any government in the world to suspect that a section of South Africans is under danger from their own democratically elected government. That threat does not exist,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mr Dutton’s office said yesterday he would not resile from his comments, which have embarrassed the South African government but are backed by Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and the federal member for Canning, Andrew Hastie.
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Ms Bishop rejected suggestions this morning white farmers in South African were being singled out for special treatment, saying Australia’s humanitarian visas were open to anyone experiencing persecution and were assessed on their merits.
Violent raids against white farmers reached record numbers in 2017, with more than 400 attacks and between one and two murders every week, according to the Pretoria-based civil rights organisation, AfriForum.
In February, there were two murders a week. AfriForum links the increase to a proposal by new President Cyril Ramaphosa to reclaim land taken in colonial and apartheid times without paying compensation.
South African police do not release statistics on farm attacks, however News Corp Australia saw on a recent visit how AfriForum directly fact-checked each farm attack with police stations in rural areas.
News Corp documented cases of extraordinary cruelty against farmers, including people being burned with hot irons, shot and raped in what they believe is in part an orchestrated plan to run them off the land.
AfriForum said it would prefer that farmers stayed on their land, but said Mr Dutton’s comments had brought unprecedented awareness to the problem.
“We welcome what the minister said, even though we would like to build a safe and sustainable future here,” said Ian Cameron, head of AfriForum Community Safety.
“We can’t allow the intimidation to carry on. This should be such an embarrassment to the South African government as the world starts to see what is happening here.”
Families in Australia fear the violence is spiralling and are hoping at-risk relatives can find sanctuary here.
On Wednesday, President Ramaphosa again vowed to pass laws to “facilitate the lawful transfer of land and property to South Africans who have been deprived of land through colonial and Apartheid policies”.
Originally published as Diplomatic row erupts over Peter Dutton’s potential offer to help South Africa’s white farmers
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