Diogenesister
I have always found you well-informed and a pleasure to read. The British are usually better informed about South Africa than other nationalities as it used to be a colony before 1910. As far as early South African history goes, prior to the arrival of the Europeans or the Nguni, there were two related peoples who, it is thought, came down the west coast of Africa to settle in what is now Namibia and the Northern Cape. They were hunter-gatherers, commonly known as Bushmen but more correctly as San. Some of these San became farmers over time, and with the extra milk and meat their physique changed and they moved further south, down into the Cape area, and were commonly known as Hottentots but more correctly as Khoisan. So the Khoisan were San with a better diet. The Khoisan were not driven out, but assimilated with the settlers and eventually became what is known as the Cape coloureds, although as I previously said there were also other races involved in that assimilation. The San, the hunter-gatherers, were viewed as thieves and were hunted down like animals. Disease introduced by Europeans also decimated them, as it did the indigenous population in South America. Only pockets of them remained in Namibia and the Northern Cape, but even so their hunter-gatherer life was largely at an end as government expected them live in houses and have their children "educated". This resulted in high rates of alcoholism and petty crime. It has been a sad end to a romanticised way of life.
Mark Twain wrote that there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics". You say that white farmers make up (0.066 of the population) and that they are 1500% more likely to be murdered. Rather than swop statistics (like swopping scriptures in a trinity debate) I would just question that if farmers are 1500% more likely to be murdered ... more likely than who? The average South African? The average white South African? The average white South African owning significant property? The average white South African owning significant property and living in isolated areas? I hope you get my point. In actual fact, the people most likely to be killed in South Africa are young black men who live in informal settlements in urban areas (see Institute for Security Studies, National Injury Mortality Surveillance System, British Medical Journal Global Health). But you don't usually see those deaths in the media. They are just too common to make the news. But anyone, black or white, owning significant property and living in an isolated area will be a target for criminals.
You asked why I left. My father came from London and all my life I heard about how wonderful England was. My heroes were Drake and Nelson and Churchill. I loved playing Monopoly and seeing all the London place-names. I came here because I loved England before I had seen it. It had nothing to do with politics or crime or even apartheid. I just loved England and had to see it.
Diogenesister : For others :the whites are 7% of the population and own 22% of the land
For those interested in land ownership, the most up-to-date Land Audit report (2017) can be read here. It says (p.2) :
The Land Audit reveals that Whites own 26 663 144 ha or 72% of the total 37 031 283 ha farms and agricultural holdings by individual landowners; followed by Coloured at 5 371 383 ha or 15%, Indians at 2 031 790 ha or 5%, Africans at 1 314 873 ha or 4%, other at 1 271 562 ha or 3%, and co-owners at 425 537 ha or 1%.
However, I would strongly recommend this 2025 article to anyone interested. It both updates and puts the report in context. Otherwise I would correctly be accused of lies, damned lies and statistics.
TD : I thought they were experiencing significant drought (?)
I am not in a position to judge which of the two reports are correct, although I note that the African Farming report is more recent. But I can tell you that this year (2025) has been marked by floods in many parts of the country. Of course that is no good for agriculture either but I am just saying that whatever drought there was is over. Of course the more recent implementation of tariffs will affect the American market for South African agriculture and that will affect exports more than drought or flood if they continue.