South African farm attacks

Since 1994, over 1500 white South African farmers have been murdered on their farms - mostly by young black South African males. The murder rate at one time for white farmers in the country was as high as 280 per 100,000, very likely the highest murder rate of one particular group in the entire world. As a result of these murders, about half of the farmers fled the countryside to the cities, or to other countries. This has resulted in fewer crops being grown, and many remaining farmers working with shotguns and rifles by their side.

Many theories have been put forth for the reason for these murders, including race and poverty, but it is possible that many blacks feel that by killing white farmers who own a lot of land, that the land will be eventually come into possession by blacks. Jealousy over large land ownership and large houses might also be a cause. Theft does not seem to be a valid reason for most of the attacks, since many attacks had no property loss.