ANC calls for ‘national effort’ to beat ‘right-wing extremism’

The ANC has urged South Africans to “unite” against interest groups it claims are intent on spreading division and segregation.

Speaking outside the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Gauteng on Saturday, spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said ideas such as Cape Independence and white genocide had to be dispelled.

“It is incumbent on the people of SA to defend the democracy and constitutional order we have. It should be the people of SA that should rise, not just political parties, against any attempt to take us back or reintroduce draconian apartheid segregation policies.

“This should be a joint struggle of citizens, regardless of political persuasion, and a national effort.”

She noted “right-wing extremism that seems to be resurging in our country”, saying it was undermining stability and nation-building.

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Trips to America

Her comments came after Afrikaner lobby groups, AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement, visited the USA to ask it to act against SA policies, including the Expropriation Act, and seek humanitarian assistance for Afrikaans community development.

The groups are accused of spreading misinformation about alleged white genocide and the alleged targeting of white people through race-based laws.

The Cape Independence Advocacy Group is also seeking to send a delegation to meet with US government officials to further its aim for Cape independence from South Africa and share “challenges” in the country.

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Will the ANC join treason case?

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said this week that police “met to with AfriForum to clarify the allegations of white genocide with reference to farm murders”. 

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) are investigating allegations of high treason against the group. The charge was laid by the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party last month, claiming economic sabotage.

Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC would not join the case because this would “defocus” the ANC.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel denied the charges, calling the claims “baseless”.

“I will not have sleepless nights over this as these complaints are baseless. If the state, however, goes ahead with this, it will make us stronger. It would confirm the point that ANC leaders are abusing their power to govern against certain sections of the population.

“If AfriForum has to be in court, it would also, of course, give us a platform to show the world and show the country how the ANC leaders are acting against the country’s interests. They are disloyal.”

ALSO READ: WATCH: AfriForum ‘not having sleepless nights’ over allegations of high treason

Cape independence a betrayal of SA?

There have been calls for British-born Cape Independence Advocacy Group leader Phil Craig to be stripped of his permanent residence. He told The Citizen he had every right to advocate for South Africans.

“My rights, just as for anyone else, are enshrined in the constitution, and I am fully entitled to exercise them. Opponents of Cape Independence should focus much more on the process; when they do, they will realise I am not the issue.

“We are calling for a referendum of all 3.2 million Western Cape voters. In the final reckoning, what I want as an individual is irrelevant. The question is, what do the majority of the Western Cape people want? In a democracy, we should all be willing to accept that.”

“Only in South Africa is the author of a non-racialism bill, which seeks to end all race-based policy in South Africa, routinely accused of being racist.”

Additional reporting by Faizel Patel, Marizka Coetzer, Itumeleng Mafisa, Vhahangwele Nemakonde, and Molefe Seeletsa.