Post Apartheid South Africa: War of the Flea

Via our Twitter pen pal  Natasha in South Africa

In post-Apartheid South Africa, some say it’s more dangerous to be a farmer than a policeman. Since the transition to democracy, an alarming phenomenon has been sweeping the country's farmlands: more than 3000 white farmers brutally murdered. Some decry the scourge as systematic racial genocide driven by hatred and sinister political motives. Others dismiss the trend as merely a side-effect of a violence and crime-wracked society. 


First-time film-maker, Rian van der Walt, immerses himself in South Africa’s stricken farming communities. He explores South Africa’s bloody, divisive past and ponders how it has affected the fledgling democracy. Intimate crime-scene interviews with the devastated families of farm murder victims are juxtaposed with insight from experts. Criminologists, Sociologists and Psychologists share their views on how the degree of violence and torture prevalent in farm murders compares to other violent crimes and how this reflects on South African society as a whole. 


One man’s disturbing, thought-provoking journey in search of explanation. Preconceptions are obliterated and startling realisations emerge in a visual and emotional pilgrimage.

Click HERE to view War of the Flea