A closer inspection of the list of farm murder victims provided by the Lex Libertas organisation, as part of their “3000 White Crosses” project, challenges the Afrikaner persecution narrative cited by the organisation and its allies.
The campaign saw thousands of white crosses being planted on the lawns of the National Mall in Washington, DC on Saturday 26 September.
The list on their website, which cites the names of mostly white victims of farm murders between pre-1990 and 2026, also includes the names of many black victims. Besides the year and approximate date of the murders, no other details are provided – no motive, location or whether there have been any arrests.
While all the murders must be condemned, the motive for some of the murders of Black victims does not fit into the accusation that it is driven in part by alleged political incitement and the singing of the chant “Kill the Boer”.
The imagery of the white crosses has been used for years in the narrative around murdered white South African farmers.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that a “white genocide” is taking place in South Africa, a result of years of lobbying by Afrikaner rights groups, which led to the US creating an exclusive refugee plan for mainly white Afrikaners, stating they face violent attacks and land seizures.
But following the installation of the crosses in the US, many online commentators have accused Lex Libertas and Roets of using victims of South Africa’s horrific violent crime crisis to make a racial argument that the underlying data fails to establish.
It’s astonishing to see how disappointed people on the Left are when they discover that we include the names of black people on our list of farm murder victims.
They want us to exclude them, because they want to be angry about that and justify their false accusations of racism.
— Ernst Roets (@ErnstRoets) September 21, 2026
But then this directly contradicts the view that YOU sold the world that white people are targeted. You can’t want to correct A narrative that you were instrumental in creating at the very end. You were told countless times that this is a crime issue and not targeted.
— Mogale_Mogale (@MMashilo28) September 21, 2026
All your videos are of people “commemorating the killing of white farmers”
Your entire campaign was is based on the false narrative of white farmers being targeted.
Pull the other one. You know very well what you did.— Drikus Weideman (@denialmustend) September 28, 2026
Below is a short list of some of the Black victims’ names cited by Lex Libertas, showing a variety of motives that do not reconcile with the explicit “persecution” narrative. Smile FM found this information by searching the names online; various news articles confirm the details below:
July 2003: Majola family, Mevamhlophe outside Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal
Muntungethuke Majola (64), Sihle Majola (22), Sindisiwe Majola (27), Sipho Majola (34), Qiniso Hlongwane (18 months) and Themba Manyathi (11) were shot dead at the family home. Unidentified gunmen, allegedly posing as police, knocked on the door at about 11.30 pm before opening fire inside the house. Busisiwe Majola was wounded. Lex Libertas only names four of the victims.
June 2004 — Ashley Ndala (18), Sterkspruit farm
Ndala was beaten to death and his body hidden in a veld. The report says dogs later brought his skull home. Two people who worked on the farm were arrested.
15 May 2009 — Elias Khari Sehularo (81), Roodepan farm, Northern Cape
Sehularo was found dead with a fatal slash wound to the head. A 19-year-old Zimbabwean teenager who had worked for him was later arrested after the victim’s cellphone and SIM card were found in his possession.
March 2011 — Buyi Xaba (40), Mooiplaas farm near Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal
Xaba was found naked with her chest cut open and her heart removed. Three suspects, including a traditional healer, were arrested.
28 August 2015 — Robert Rhadebe (67), Harrismith district, Free State
Two men allegedly arrived at Rhadebe’s home pretending to want to buy wood. He and his wife, Martha, were overpowered, tied up and stabbed. Rhadebe died from his injuries. The attackers fled with the couple’s bakkie and R300.
19 March 2016 — Bonisile Bixa (75), near Dutywa, Eastern Cape
Bixa was attacked while sleeping at his home. He was stabbed, robbed and his body was subsequently set alight.
October 2018 — Philemon Ngwenya (53), Thembalihle
Ngwenya was a Vrede Dairy Farm Whistleblower. He was found murdered and wrapped in blankets in his shack. Reports cited in the source said he may have been killed elsewhere before his body was taken back to the shack.
16 October 2018 — John Shabangu (55), Middelburg
Shabangu was shot inside the main farmhouse on a family farm on Verena Road. The source also records a dispute over the land and an alleged threat that “one by one you will go until we have the land.”
4 January 2019 — Joshua Mutaasa (38) and Rita Mutaasa (43), Northam, Limpopo
The Ugandan couple were attacked with a sharp object at their home in Wildebeeslaagte. Their house was set alight, and their remains were found charred. The source says the attack followed a dispute over payments for a BMW.
August 2021 — Mgwenika Twala, Selina Maloka and three children, Toekoms farm
Twala, Maloka and their three children, aged six, 16 and 19, were stabbed to death on the farm.
27 May 2023 — Hlompo Patrick Phale (33), Zamdela
Phale, a sheep herder, was found with his hands tied with rope and a gunshot wound to the stomach. About 98 sheep were also stolen from the farm. Three suspects were arrested.
11 June 2024 — Elizabeth Maseloane (60), Swartruggens, North West
Maseloane was killed while alone at a smallholding. Four suspects allegedly entered the property, ransacked the home and later ambushed and kidnapped her 70-year-old husband, who escaped.
2 December 2024 — Vinolia Sedibe (41), Potloodspruit, near Mashishing/Lydenburg, Mpumalanga
Sedibe and another woman were held hostage during a robbery. Sedibe was taken into nearby bushes, bound with cable ties and strangled. Two suspects were arrested within 24 hours.
December 2025 — Mbongeni Sikhakhane, Sweetwaters, Pietermaritzburg
Five armed men allegedly stormed Sikhakhane’s home, shot him and demanded money and his firearm from his wife. The suspects then went to his shop, where his daughter had locked herself inside.
The list shows the brutality of rural crime and that it affects everyone. But it does not support the narrative that farmers are being persecuted, specifically because they are farmers.
Perhaps a jaw-dropping and telling addition to the list is that of white supremacist AWB leader Eugene Terre’Blanche. He was murdered on his Ventersdorp farm in April 2010, following a dispute with his farmworkers over unpaid wages. The Judge dismissed claims of a political or racial motivation for the murder.
The next step for Roets and Lex Libertas is an attempt to display the crosses at the Union Buildings. It remains to be seen whether they will get permission.
The crosses are being loaded to be shipped to South Africa. Let’s see if the South African government gives us permission to display them at the Union Buildings. pic.twitter.com/P53PJ7we0M
— Ernst Roets (@ErnstRoets) September 26, 2026
*This article has been updated for clairty
