Maybe they are? In practice, the odds are on the thugs side. I mean they can walk around how they want and pull the gun at an opportune moment while the farmers have to assume people they meet are not going to kill them.
The first person who pulls the trigger has a big advantage. Guns are quick and fairly incapacitating, so a determined attacker has a big advantage. This isn't MAD.
Even the Hollywood-style "a good guy stopped a shooter" scenarios often only stop further, not initial, shootings.
In Britain, the farming community and the gypsy community know each other. About 20 years ago, there was a high-profile shooting in Britain, this article from the Guardian gives an overview: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/19/audreygillan
It's a bit too bleeding-heart for my taste, even the Guardian admits to policing difficulties, there's little surprise that someone might take the law in their own hands if the government is absent. You'd guess similar dynamics are at play in South Africa.
These are high profile things. Most low profile murders in most places are among family and friends and coworkers and such. Or people who are doing crimes together.
The Britain and US would be places where it is exactly like that.
As in, south african farmers situation is unusual here.
