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Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel. Picture: Jacques Nelles
AfriForum has responded to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s accusation that Afrikaner lobby groups are “sowing divisions” by visiting the Donald Trump administration in the United States.
Ramaphosa on Thursday slammed AfriForum and Solidarity’s visit to Washington amid the ongoing tension between South Africa and the US.
“What they are doing has spawned divisions in our nation, and that is not a nation-building process — running around the world trying to have your problems solved.
“You are just sowing divisions because now a number of South Africans then start looking at others negatively, and I don’t think that is the right way to handle our problems, “ Ramaphosa told journalists after speaking at an education lekgotla in Boksburg, Gauteng on Thursday.
Ramaphosa attended a Goldman Sachs event earlier on Thursday, where he disclosed that he had a conversation with Trump to congratulate him on his election victory.
ALSO READ: AfriForum, Solidarity meet with top Trump officials [VIDEO]
Responding to Ramaphosa’s remarks, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said their visit at the White House stemmed from frustrations with the South African government’s refusal to address their concerns.
“It is ironic that President Ramaphosa is now falsely accusing AfriForum of spreading divisions in the country, while in fact it is President Ramaphosa and ANC leaders that are dividing the country.
“It is Ramaphosa who signed the anti-Afrikaans Bela Act – an act that threatens the cultural existence of Afrikaans-speaking cultural communities. It is also Ramaphosa who signed the Expropriation Act. It is he who refuses to condemn slogans such as ‘Kill the Boer’ and it is the same president who denies the existence of farm murders,” said Kriel.
Kriel said that Afrikaans lobby groups, including Solidarity and the Solidarity Movement, sent letters to Ramaphosa regarding the Bela Act, the Expropriation Act and the current tension with the US, but Ramaphosa “ignored the letters written to him.”
“It is President Ramaphosa that openly refuses to engage with us…
“We will not be deterred. We will simply continue to fight for the interests of the country, and we will also fight unashamedly for the interests of Afrikaners. These statements only motivate us more to get our message out loud and clear. We are not going to be silenced by the so-called ‘cancel culture’ and we look forward to the future,” Kriel said.
ALSO READ: ‘The lies will be incomplete without you’: Ramaphosa’s spokesperson takes shots at US embassy
The Citizen reported that on Tuesday, Solidarity and AfriForum handed over the “Washington Memorandum”, asking the United States to provide humanitarian assistance for Afrikaner development.
This after Trump halted funding to South Africa by signing an executive order against the country, alleging human rights issues in response to the government’s land policy.
Trump’s advisor, Elon Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, has also criticised SA’s government and claimed it has been anti-white for years, although some have questioned his motivations.
The groups urged Trump to continue applying pressure on the government.
“This includes safety structures, social structures, job structures, training structures and infrastructure to settle Afrikaners in a concentrated manner,” the memo read.
It added: “That pressure be put on South Africa to declare farm murders a priority crime and to take decisive action against those calling for violence against Afrikaners.
“Pressure also be put on the South African government to revise the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, the Expropriation Act and legislation that discriminates on the basis of race.
The Afrikaner lobby groups also called on Trump to pressure the SA government to change its current foreign policies, which they termed contradictory to international and human rights law, adding that they had concerns about the country’s positions regarding Israel, China, Iran, Russia and Taiwan.
“In light of the above, we recommend that the pressure on South Africans be sustained, but the pressure be focused on ANC leaders who are responsible for these policies.”
While the groups welcomed Trump’s political pressure on the government, they rejected the withdrawal of aid and the classification of Afrikaners as refugees.
At a post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said AfriForum and Solidarity’s decision to send an envoy to the US ahead of the South African government does not disadvantage the country.
“I don’t know why they continue to go peddle lies, but we are not going to make some people peace-time heroes,” she said.
“If they don’t like South Africa so much and the efforts of government to redress inequalities of the past, why don’t they take up President Trump on his offer to resettle in the United States?” she questioned.
ALSO READ: No need to rush, says Ntshavheni on SA govt going to the US after AfriForum-Solidarity visit
The minister emphasised that not all Afrikaners or white South Africans support AfriForum and Solidarity’s stance.
She stressed that government is taking diplomatic steps to engage with the US, particularly regarding trade agreements such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
“From where we sit, we both have mutual interests in the development and growth of our own countries and economies.
“It is beneficial for the US to have good relations with South Africa, and it is beneficial for South Africa to have good relations with the US. So we cannot avoid each other.”
Ntshavheni also dismissed the suggestion that AfriForum and Solidarity had gained an advantage by engaging with the US government before official South African representatives.
“If you rush through, you may miss a lot of opportunities and a lot of things,” she said, insisting that the government does not see the situation as a crisis.
“We don’t believe there’s a need to rush; there are processes underway,” she added.
Meanwhile, ANC Youth League president Collen Malatji said white South Africans are living a better life because they own more than 80% of the land in the country.
“Donald Trump offered them refugee camps in the USA. We were ready to release them, they must go. They know they are living better in South Africa. They will never agree to go and stay in the USA because here in South Africa, they own 87% of the land.”
Malatji said AfriForum and other groups representing Afrikaner interests must protect democracy’s gains and not destroy harmony among the country’s different races.
Meanwhile, the EFF said in a statement that it was “disgusted” by the move.
“The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are disgusted by the attempt of the right-wing groups AfriForum and Solidarity Movement to mobilise, through memorandums to the United States of America’s (US) government to interfere in the domestic affairs of the country.
“In what should be viewed as treasonous acts by both AfriForum and Solidarity Movement, they are seeking aid from the US to fund the Afrikaner minority for security and training structures meant for their exclusive benefits, to perpetuate their narrow political interests, and for their inherent beliefs to be viewed as a privileged group,” the red berets said.
Jacob Zuma’s MK Party also condemned AfriForum and Solidarity’s actions.
“The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) condemns in the strongest terms the treasonous actions of the right-wing, racist organisations AfriForum and Solidarity, which have openly conspired with foreign powers to undermine the sovereignty of South Africa.
“This disgraceful act is further evidence that these organisations, which continue to reminisce about the cruelty of apartheid, still perceive South Africa as a colony of the West. Their actions expose their deep-seated contempt for the democratic will of the South African people and their refusal to accept the irreversible reality of a free and sovereign South Africa,” the MK party said.
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