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<h6><strong><span style="color: #1f1b1b;">Vocal critic of white South Africa&#8217;s land reallocation program was <span style="font-size: inherit;">&#8220;eating dinner with [family] and friends when four masked men came into the house, and shot him&#8221; around 7 p.m. on Sunday </span></span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="color: #1f1b1b;">Wine farmer Stefan Smit, 62, had been openly critical of threat of land grabs on his property in Western Cape, SA </span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="color: #1f1b1b;">Smit, 62, who spoke out about land grabs was assassinated just weeks after white landowner was beaten to death</span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="font-size: inherit; color: #1f1b1b;">Annette Kennealy, 51, a farmer activist from South Africa&#8217;s Limpopo province was beaten to death with a hammer and iron rod in late May</span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="color: #1f1b1b;">Latest victim Smit, the owner of an estate in Western Cape, the country&#8217;s most famous wine region, previously complained about how citizens from a township invaded his land </span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="font-size: inherit; color: #1f1b1b;">His wife and a family friend survived the attack </span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="font-size: inherit; color: #1f1b1b;">72 percent of land in SA is owned by white people, who make up just nine percent of the population, a situation the govt is seeking to address with a controversial new land reform policy which is expected to run into legal headwinds</span></strong></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="color: #1f1b1b;"><span style="font-size: inherit;">The country&#8217;s parliament by a vote of </span><span style="font-size: inherit;">voted 209-91 </span><span style="font-size: inherit;">in December, passed a constitutional amendment to allow land to be expropriated without compensation in some circumstances</span></span></strong></h6>
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<h6 class="share-count"><span style="font-size: inherit;"><img class="alignnone wp-image-320671" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stefan-Smit-1.jpg" alt="Stefan Smit 1" width="816" height="620" /><strong>Victim: Wine farmer</strong> <strong>Stefan Smit, 62, [photo], had been openly critical of the threat of land grabs on his property</strong><br />
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<div class="share-count"><span style="font-size: inherit;">A South African wine merchant who spoke out against attacks on white farmers was found dead after being shot on Sunday night while dining with family and friends.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Stefan Smit, 62, had been openly critical of the threat of land grabs on his property, a large estate in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">It was a murder seemingly fueled by a land dispute in the country&#8217;s most famous wine region, created when a squat straddling Smit&#8217;s Louisenhof Estate was set up, expanding into a vast settlement.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">The farmer had previously complained about how citizens from a nearby township had begun erecting shacks at the back of his farm, culminating in his having to obtain an injunction to deter further encroachment on his property.</span></div>
<div class="share-count"><span style="font-size: inherit;">Smit was killed when four men entered his vineyard through an unlocked back door and shot him dead, while eating dinner. His wife and a family friend managed to survive the attack.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;"><span style="font-size: inherit;">The late farmer&#8217;s friend Pieter Haasbroek, said: &#8220;The [family] were busy eating dinner with friends when four masked men came into the house. They shot Smit dead. What we feared came true.&#8221;<br />
The killers</span></span><span style="font-size: inherit;"> fled with personal belongings.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">It was too soon to say whether the killing was related to a running dispute over land or was a random criminal act, according to police spokesperson Lt. Col. Andre Traut.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">The dispute over land has been ongoing and increasingly fractious, but police said it was too early to tell if Smit&#8217;s death was connected to that or a random murder.</span></div>
<h6><span style="font-size: inherit;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-320684" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stefan-Smit-2.jpg" alt="Stefan Smit 2" width="700" height="460" /><strong>Killed: Stefan Smit [right], with friends at his Louisenhoff vineyard outside of Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape province of South Africa</strong></span></h6>
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<h6 class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img class="alignnone wp-image-320690" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Stefan-Smit-owns-Louisenhof-Wine-Estate-2.jpg" alt="Stefan Smit owns Louisenhof Wine Estate 2" width="860" height="479" /><strong>Smit&#8217;s family has owned and operated the <span style="font-size: inherit;">Louisenhof Wine Estate in Western Cape, South Africa, for generations</span></strong></h6>
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</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">The same dispute saw the recent murder of Annette Kennealy, 51, a farmer activist from Limpopo province who was beaten to death with a hammer and iron rod in late May.<br />
The apparent targeted murder of Smit, a prominent white farmer whose family has grown grapes for generations, immediately drew strong reactions from groups representing white farmers and white-minority rights.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">South Africa&#8217;s ruling party, the African National Congress, has denounced the violence against farmers, but farming groups still accuse the party of not doing enough to stop it.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">The deaths of Smit and Kennealy&#8217;s comes as South Africa&#8217;s government, led by president Cyril Ramaphosa, forges ahead with plans to alter the country&#8217;s constitution to permit land to be seized from farmers without having to compensate them.</span></div>
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<div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-320694" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Annette-Kennealy-2.jpg" alt="Annette Kennealy 2" width="924" height="586" /><span style="font-size: inherit;">Annette Kennealy, 51, a farmer activist from Limpopo province was beaten to death with a hammer and iron rod. One of her male employees has been arrested in connection with the murder</span></strong></div>
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<div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><span style="font-size: inherit;">The victims, both white farm owners, were vocal opponents of the proposed land reform policy. The ripple effect of the new government posture was seen last August, when people from a nearby black township flooded Smit&#8217;s land, building shacks on it to the point where he &#8216;couldn&#8217;t breathe.&#8217;<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Zola Ndlasi, the township leader who organized the occupation of Smit&#8217;s land, said there are 2,000 shacks there now.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">&#8216;I&#8217;m not happy,&#8217; Ndlasi said about the Smit&#8217;s death. &#8216;He&#8217;s a human being. No one is allowed to kill anybody. &#8216;<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">President Ramaphosa has said that his much-focused-on land reform is necessary to compensate for the &#8216;historical imbalance&#8217; caused by apartheid and colonialism.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Under Section 25 of the old constitution, citizens were granted the right to property which could be expropriated &#8211; but only upon payment of compensation.</span></div>
<div class="image-wrap fff-pic"><span style="font-size: inherit;">The power of government to seize land was also limited, meaning that the majority of farmland remained in white hands &#8211; despite the majority of South Africa&#8217;s population being black.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">According to a 2017 census, 72 percent of land was owned by white people, who made up just nine percent of the population.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">However, in December last year parliament voted 209-91 to amend the constitution to say that land could be expropriated without anything being paid in certain circumstances.</span></div>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><span style="font-size: inherit;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-320689" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cyril-Ramaphosa-2.jpg" alt="cyril Ramaphosa 2" width="739" height="412" />The govt of SA president Cyril Ramaphosa [photo], is pushing new land reform policy with constitutional amendments to allow land expropriation, in certain circumstances, without compensation </span></strong></h6>
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</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Ministers are now preparing a series of &#8216;test cases&#8217; for the courts, despite warnings that it could take a decade or more to resolve the issue.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">The ANC has sought to reassure people inside and outside the country that its efforts to ensure the majority of black South Africans have better access to land &#8211; a long-standing party promise &#8211; will be legal and should not be cause for alarm.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Ramaphosa has said everyone should &#8216;relax&#8217; about the land reform process and that it would &#8216;end up very well&#8217;.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Political parties and NGOs have criticized the government&#8217;s attempts to change land reform measures.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">The issue did not appear to play well for Ramaphosa at South Africa&#8217;s recent election, the first since he seized power from predecessor Jacob Zuma, which the ruling ANC party won, but with reduced majority.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">Records show that 59 victims of the the recorded 84 farm murders in the 2017 calendar year, were white farmers, according to Transvaal Agricultural Union, a group representing the interests of farmers.<br />
</span><span style="font-size: inherit;">A further 15 people, including eight white farmers, were killed on farms in the first three months of 2018. </span></div>
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White South African farmer who spoke out about land grabs murdered weeks after another vocal white landowner was beaten to death – Wine farmer Stefan Smit, 62, was shot dead in his home as he ate dinner with his family
