Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum welcomes US State Department report confirming persecution of minority groups, threats to property rights

According to the civil rights organisation AfriForum, the detailed report published by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is a breath of fresh air as it confirms the South African government’s persecution of Afrikaners and other minorities. The report, published late yesterday, finds that the human rights situation in South Africa has significantly worsened during the year. It raises concerns about the Expropriation Act, and other abuses against racial minorities in the country, as outlined in the government’s long list of racially discriminatory laws. It also states that the government “did not take credible steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, including inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities, or violence against racial minorities.”

Given the findings in this damning report, it is clear what President Cyril Ramaphosa must do: condemn the “Kill the Boer” chant, amend the Expropriation Act, end racially discriminatory laws, and classify farm murders as a priority crime.

The report warns of significant human rights issues such as the repression of racial minorities, as well as intimidation or harassment of civil society groups for expressing opinions critical of the government. The latter is likely referring to the high treason investigation that was launched into AfriForum for the organisations criticism of the government’s extremist policies and rhetoric.

The report’s focus on the threat to private property rights posed by the Expropriation Act, alongside strong criticism of “countless government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and extreme rhetoric and government actions fuelling disproportionate violence against racially disfavoured landowners” is justified, factual and welcome.

AfriForum is also encouraged to see that the report casts a spotlight on farm murders and the “Kill the Boer” chant. The report, furthermore, states that in recent years the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) encouraged attacks on Afrikaner farmers, reviving the use of the song “Kill the Boer” at its rallies and otherwise inciting violence.

The release of this report comes amid a deepening diplomatic crisis between the US government and the South African government. In reaction to the findings, AfriForum again calls on the President to condemn the “Kill the Boer” chant and to take concrete steps to stop human rights abuses and policies targeting Afrikaners and other minorities. Without decisive action in this regard, the relationship with the US cannot be salvaged.

According to Ernst van Zyl, Head of Public Relations at AfriForum, the South African government’s knee-jerk denialism in the face of this damning report is shameful. “The past few months’ diplomatic crisis should have taught the ANC-led government that denying the existence of real issues will not save the relationship with the US.

Soundbite: Ernst van Zyl (English)

“If the President and the ANC-led government do not address the issues raised, they must take full responsibility for the US’s high tariffs against South Africa and the worsening diplomatic relationship. The President’s refusal to address these issues fail the people of South Africa by placing the ANC’s extremist ideology and race-obsession above the interests of the country and its citizens,” Van Zyl concludes.