‘Five of six farm murder victims were black’ — Police Minister Senzo Mchunu rubbishes Trump’s white genocide lies

23 May 2025

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has delivered the country’s latest crime statistics — and he has used the opportunity to hit back at US President Donald Trump’s lies about a white genocide happening in South Africa.

There were six murders linked to farms in South Africa in the first quarter of this year — and of those killed, five were black.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu announced this on Friday, 23 May 2025, when releasing the country’s latest official crime statistics.

He made it clear that race is not usually referenced when delivering the figures, but because of what has been happening in the US, it was necessary to mention skin colour in terms of farm-related crimes.

The latest crime statistics cover the first three months of this year — 1 January to 31 March.

Over that period, 5,727 murders were recorded in South Africa, a drop from 6,953 killings recorded in the three previous months.

The leading causes of murders were arguments and provocation.

Of the overall situation, Mchunu said: “We do not deny that the levels of crime in the country are high. We are very concerned about it.

“We confirm that crime cuts across all divides, rural and urban areas.”

Read more: Ramaphosa in resolve-and-reset mode on SA-US ties despite Trump’s white Afrikaner genocide claims

Mchunu presented the statistics two days after President Cyril Ramaphosa met US President Donald Trump in the White House, when Trump again made claims of genocide against white Afrikaners in South Africa.

Trump also showed a video that included an aerial shot of a farm murder protest involving white crosses, and a tweet claiming that each cross represented a farmer killed in South Africa.

On Wednesday, the White House also issued a statement saying: “Today, President Donald J. Trump showed the world the shocking treatment of white farmers in South Africa — including with a video montage that highlighted the discrimination and violence targeted at the innocent minority victims.”

Mchunu on Friday hit back at Trump’s claims and detailed some background relating to the white crosses shown in the video.

‘No respect for Trump’s story’

He said that in the first three months of this year, six rural community attacks (reflected in the crime statistics under the category “murder of farming community”) took place.

Making up that figure were two farm owners, two farm employees, a farm manager and a farm dweller.

Mchunu said only the farm dweller was white.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOA1aBR5bc

“The history of farm murders in the country has always been distorted and reported in an unbalanced way; the truth is that farm murders have always included African people in more numbers,” he said.

Mchunu also mentioned Trump.

“We have respect for the United States of America, as a country. We have respect for the people of the United States, and we have respect for the president of the United States, President Donald Trump,” he said.

“But we have no respect for his genocide story, whatsoever. It is totally unfounded and totally unsubstantiated.”

Read more: Trump’s Oval Office drama: Unpacking the misleading claims about South Africa’s ‘white genocide’

Mchunu welcomed the way some media houses in the US, United Kingdom and South Africa had expressed doubt when referencing Trump’s claims.

He turned his attention to the white crosses Trump had shown to try to back his claims of a white genocide in South Africa.

‘Symbols not graves’

“The picture of many crosses on both sides of a dirt road between Newcastle and Normandien in KwaZulu-Natal flows from a Normandien registered case,” Mchunu said.

He added the related incident — in which “Mr G Rafferty and Mrs VL Rafferty… were sadly murdered by criminals in their home” — happened on 30 September 2020 at Hanover Farm.

“The incident sparked a very strong protest by the farming community in the area. The crosses symbolised killings on farms over years, they are not graves,” Mchunu said. “And it was unfortunate that those facts got twisted to fit a false narrative about crime in South Africa.”

Three suspects were arrested and sentenced for the Rafferty couple’s murder and were in jail.

National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola, also speaking during the latest crime statistics release, said he had been among those at the crime scene in 2020.

He described the case as: “A murder motivated by robbery.”

‘Sheer desperation for land’

Trump has also reacted to Ramaphosa signing the Expropriation Bill into law.

The most contentious part of the bill appears to be that it is: “To provide for certain instances where expropriation with nil compensation may be appropriate in the public interest.”

Trump in February signed off an executive order cutting off aid to this country, which claimed the law was “to enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaVFZgtY1l8

Mchunu on Wednesday rejected the idea of land grabs in South Africa.

He instead confirmed there were land invasions, which was very different to claims being made about land grabs.

“Land invasions are not government policy, but are by and large acts of desperation for land by African people who find themselves landless and in need to settle,” Mchunu said.

“It is sporadic, and it remains unlawful — hence the cases and investigations thereof. This is what has warranted expropriation without compensation, to address the problem in a lawful, systematic way.”

‘Law was enforced’

Throughout his address on Wednesday, Mchunu emphasised that police officers were acting against crime.

He said that the fact that prisons were crammed pointed to this.

Mchunu also referenced a recent case involving an American missionary, Josh Sullivan, who was kidnapped from a church in the Eastern Cape last month.

Read more: Abducted American pastor rescued after shootout with police, kidnappers killed

Officers tracked down and freed Sullivan and made arrests.

Mchunu reiterated: “Again, the law was enforced.”

During Wednesday’s address he cautioned the public to be careful when consuming and sharing information, especially on social media.

“Remain vigilant against fake news,” he said.

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South Africa

‘No respect for Trump’s story’

‘Symbols not graves’

‘Sheer desperation for land’

‘Law was enforced’