Yemini has collected 50 000 signatures for a petition in which the Australian government is requested to allow more South African refugees in Australia.

The crowd of protestors were not particularly raucous, given the bloodshedding they were protestings against, but many carried placards and crosses. One big placard said: “Recognise the genocide.”

During the march by protestors, some Afrikaans folk songs such as “Sarie Marais” were sung.

At least three Australian politicians also participated as speakers at the protest, Messrs. Andrew Hastie (Liberal Party), Aaron Stonehouse (Liberal-Democratic Party) and Charles Smith (One Nation).

During the introduction, one of the organisers, an Afrikaner and ex-South African, said: “South African farmers are being brutally targeted. Husbands are forced to watch while their wives are being raped. Children are forced to watch while their parents are being killed.”

He also told the crowd how the two-year old Willemien Potgieter, the martyred little girl was executed with a pistol together with her mother after both of them had to watch how her father was hacked to death with a machete.

The three Australian politicians expressed their solidarity with the suffering South Africans.

Mr. Charles Smith, a member of the provincial council in West Australia, said: “We are standing here to express our heartfelt solidarity with South African farmers who we call brothers, who we call sisters and uncles.”

“We stand here to protest what we perceive to be wrong: The expropriation of land without compensation, the assaults, the killing, the genocide. I believe this protest has right on its side,” Charles Smith of One Nation continued.

‘Reverse apartheid’

According to Charles Smith, there exists reverse apartheid in South Africa. Therefore he asked other countries to also express themselves against it. “Today I call upon all nations around the world to say no to this reverse apartheid which is taking shape in South Africa.”

The member of parliament for the Liberal-Democratic Party, Mr. Aaron Stonehouse, said that he was not influenced by race or ethnicity. “We are classical liberals. We don’t like to look at the world through the lens of race. I’d rather judge people as individuals, by their values and by their actions… White farmers are being attacked in South Africa and their government is throwing fuel on the fire.”

Mr. Stonehouse was of the opinion that white South Africans made a big contribution to Australia, particularly because they were part of the Western family, also being pioneers, just like Australians. “The South African people and the Australian people do share the same values. We derive from the same European experience of crossing out into the great unknown with nothing but our swags on our backs and crosses on our hearts,” Stonehouse declared. “I’m also a member of this broad family of nations that you might call the West… People who live in the West have a lot in common. Someone born in South Africa, or the UK or America might find success in a place like Australia.”

At the same time, Stonehouse denounced the expropriation of land without compensation, as voted by the South African parliament and supported by the ANC and EFF. “The ANC is attacking the very idea of private property rights,” he said.

A female South African immigrant, who was apparently also an Afrikaner, expressed herself strongly against the abuse of women and children. “Also concerning is the abuse of all women and children in South Africa which has reached alarming levels,” she said.