WHEN DEATH REACHES YOUR BORDERS

When I was still a child a renowned criminal was released from Robben Island. To become president. It puzzled my young mind how a murderer could lead a country. It was not a matter of black or white. It was a matter of right or wrong. I distinctly remember the "Kill the Boer. Kill the Farmer" cry of a fanatic black group at the time. It alarmed me but didn't mean too much more to a little child. Life was wonderful. Safe. Theft, rape, murder in the 1990's, was very far from our home borders. The racist card was thrown around as an excuse for a lot of the changes back then. The true agenda was, as yet, unknown.

Over the years, like the proverbial boiled frog, we in South Africa have slowly become numbed to the escalating atrocities of black on white. Hijacking, rape, armed robberies, farm murders are a tragic part of living in this beautiful country. The criminals roam free and the innocent live behind high walls, burglar guards and expensive alarm systems. As long as we and our loved ones aren't personally affected we have continued our lives, more or less, peaceably. But in the recent years one can no longer continue with our heads in the sands. Children are going missing. Teenage girls are kidnapped off the street. Farm murders are increasing. And the leaders are unashamedly shouting from parliament: "One Boer. One Bullet" as the radical rebel group did only a couple decades ago. The government is corrupt. So, on the whole, is the police force. In our little farming community we have lived in relative safety for years. And then yesterday we were awoken to the news. One of us had had stock theft during the night.

My husband and I plus our immediate neighbour (a police captain from pre-ANC days) rushed the 5km down the road. We arrived as the police did. The farmer is away for a week and thieves siezed the opportunity. At their leisure they selected out 4 of the ewes and butchered them. They were in the process of slaughtering a fifth, as evidenced by her slit throat. Something must've spooked them because she escaped, injured but alive. The 4 carcasses were dragged to their waiting vehicle for the getaway. All that remains is plenty of tracks, lambs covered with the blood of their mothers and the entrails of the slaughtered sheep. Death has finally reached our borders and it is a scary wake up call to our peaceful valley.

It appears this farmer in particular has been targeted. The history behind the farm is a very colourful one. It is difficult to sift truth from wild rumours. The farm is a very large one and part of a very large family estate. For years it remained uninhabited as family battles continued over the will. A black man moved into the main farm house. He is believed to be an ANC representative, sent as a forerunner in the "land grab". He was one of the first doing test runs on white farmers. He was unopposed and has lived in the house, running huge flocks off the land for a couple decades. Two years ago one of the farm beneficiaries moved onto the farm to contest the ongoing will and the family illegally living here. It has not gone as he has planned. This is probably why is is now the first to suffer stock theft.

Having a few sheep stolen does not mean the start of some sinister attack in our quiet farming community. But the blatant butchering of sheep on a property that is caught up in legal and racist battles is a clear warning to us. What this means I can't say for sure. But it is a sobering thought that we are no longer safe in our country home. It is scary to realize that we have received our first "warning". The international media who claim that white South Africans are only "getting what we deserve" have no clue of the truth behind the twisted information that they are being fed. Scripture says that a day will come when "they call good evil and evil good". With the wicked being protected and the innocent fearing for their lives, that day has arrived.