DA responds to Black Monday
In light of yesterday's Black Monday, Alan Fuchs, DA Constituency Head for Mogale City issued a statement regarding the right of farmers to protest against farm murders.
In light of yesterday’s Black Monday, Alan Fuchs, DA Constituency Head of Mogale City responded with the following statement regarding the right of farmers to protest against farm murders.
“In political theory there is a concept of a ‘social contract’. This is an actual or hypothetical agreement among the members of an organised society, or between a community and its government that defines and limits the rights of each party,” he started.
“In terms of the social contract, members of the society give up certain rights and transfer them to the State. As an example, if a thief steals your property, you do not have the right to go and steal it back. Instead, you must report the thief to the police, who then on your behalf, must retrieve your property, investigate and lay charges.”
He added that the South African Constitution has been said to equate to a social contract between citizens and the State. In terms of the Bill of Rights within the Constitution, the State must respect, protect, promote and fulfill the rights of citizens. Two such rights are the right to life and the right to freedom and security of person.
“If citizens believe that the State is not meeting its obligations to protect them, they can take the state to court, they can vote the government out or they can protest,” Alan said.
Thus the demonstration on behalf of farmers is, according to him, perfectly valid. There are individuals who believe that the State has abdicated its responsibility in terms of protecting farmers and that the farmers and others are now exercising their right to protest.
He added that the point must be made that in not exercising its responsibility, the State is having an impact, not only on farmers, but on society as a whole. It is true that the murder rate among farmers is high, but the reality is that the murder rate in the country is also unacceptably high.
Read more here: #BlackMonday: This morning in photos and videos
“Are the farmers being targeted because of their race? It may be true in some situations, but generally I do not believe so. It is well known that the South African Police Services are under-resourced and that their performance is questionable,” Alan said.
“In rural areas where farms exist, there are even fewer resources for fighting crime and the efforts to protect farmers are further diluted. Thus, due to their geographical location, farmers are targeted.”
The farmers have every right to protest. He mentioned that he proudly wore black on Monday, not only in support of farmers, but also in support of all others who have lost their lives or been prejudiced by the State’s inability to meet its obligations in terms of the social contract as well as the Constitution.
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