By Kallie Kriel
CEO AfriForum
AfriForum emphasises that the executive order that US President, Donald Trump, issued on Friday regarding the position of Afrikaners in South Africa, is a direct result of President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government’s irresponsible actions and policies.
AfriForum expressed its great appreciation for Trump and the US’s recognition of the injustice to which Afrikaners are subjected in South Africa.
However, the civil rights organisation and its sister institutions in the Solidarity Movement remain committed to Afrikaners’ future at the southern tip of Africa and insist that urgent solutions must therefore be found for the injustices committed by the South African government against Afrikaners and other cultural communities in the country.
According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, Afrikaners will only be able to survive as a cultural community on local soil.
“Emigration only offers an opportunity for Afrikaners who are willing to risk potentially sacrificing their descendants’ cultural identity as Afrikaners.
The price for that is simply too high.
We also owe it to our forefathers not to nullify their sacrifices to let Afrikaners take shape as a people by giving up our self-existence as Afrikaners,” says Kriel.
Kriel points out that AfriForum, together with the Solidarity Movement, will focus on practical proposals to tackle the injustices to which Afrikaners are subjected, based on mutual recognition and respect with other communities in the country.
Suggestions will also be made on how Afrikaners can contribute positively to tackling the crises that other cultural communities and the country as a whole are currently experiencing.
Flip Buys, Chairperson of the Solidarity Movement (of which AfriForum is a part), is going to reach out to Ramaphosa and will also visit the US soon in an attempt to find solutions in this regard that will benefit everyone.
According to Kriel, AfriForum’s proposals include, among other things, the following:
• The tabling of amendment laws on the Basic Education Law Amendment Act (Bela), which specifically threatens the existence of Afrikaans schools and cultural communities; and the Expropriation Act which threatens property rights.
• South Africa’s return to a foreign policy that is neutral regarding international conflicts. The South African government’s reckless anti-Western and anti-American foreign policy is directly contributing to the fact that the economic well-being of all people in the country is now in jeopardy.
• The reaching of a cultural accord between the South African government and Afrikaners and other cultural communities that would prefer it, according to which cultural space will be offered for African institutions and cultural communities.
This proposed agreement must also stipulate that the hostility towards Afrikaner institutions is stopped and that these institutions must be considered as partners in building a better future in South Africa.
• The cessation of racial discrimination against Afrikaners and other minorities.
• The cessation of statements that are hateful to Afrikaners and other minorities such as the use of the _Kill the Boer_ chant.
AfriForum also suggests that there should be accelerated efforts, in everyone’s interest to:
• ensure the safety of all citizens and that these plans must include steps to put an end to farm murders.
• tackle corruption effectively by ensuring, among other things, that individuals who have been identified as state capturers by the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture must be urgently prosecuted.
• given the decay of local governments, give local communities the space to get involved in service delivery and actions to improve the communities in which they live.
• consider community institutions and civil organisations, which have the capacity to help solve the service delivery crisis in the country, as partners with whom cooperation agreements can be entered into; and
• extend mother language education to all communities.
According to Kriel, the organisation’s proposals can be further expanded following discussions that are now being planned with the South African and American governments.