By Werner Human, Head of Operations at the Solidarity Movement
Category: Press Releases
Jaco Kleynhans | Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, Michigan, USA
Ladies and Gentlemen, Chairman Jim Runestad, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Michigan Legislature and other political institutions in the U.S. and here in Michigan, distinguished guests,
It is an honor and a privilege to stand before you today at this 36th Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, a gathering that embodies the unyielding spirit of liberty, resilience, and principled leadership that has defined the Republican movement for generations.
I serve as the Head of International Liaison for Solidarity a large South African civil rights organization dedicated to protecting the rights, dignity, and future of minorities – particularly the Afrikaner minority – in a nation that increasingly seems bent on erasing our culture and identity.
But before I delve into the heart of my message, I must address a shadow that looms over us all, a stark reminder of the perils we face in this global battle for conservative values. Just last week, on a day that should have been filled with the promise of discourse and debate in the great state of Utah, we lost Charlie Kirk—a brilliant, fearless voice for the next generation of conservatives – to a cowardly assassination. His death was not merely a personal tragedy; it was a chilling escalation in the wave of violent rhetoric and actions targeted at conservative voices everywhere. From the streets of America to the town halls of Europe, and yes, even to the farmlands of my own country, South Africa, the enemies of freedom are emboldened. They chant slogans of hate, they incite division, and they strike without remorse.
As Afrikaners in South Africa, we will forever be grateful to Charlie Kirk and his huge contribution to focusing the world’s eyes on the murders of farmers in South Africa and the escalatingattack on the future of my people. Together with President Donald Trump and others, Kirk did great work over the past few years to tell the truth of what is happening in South Africa. Thank you, Charlie. We salute you! For now,and forever.
In South Africa, the toxic leftwing rhetoric has a name and a tune: “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer.” It is not some relic of the past; it is sung openly at political rallies, chanted by leaders who hold the reins of power, and echoed in the halls of government.
Thank you for giving me this platform to speak,not just for South Africa, but for all minorities under siege in a world that increasingly tolerates authoritarianism in the name of “progress.” Today, I want to focus on why South Africa matters to you – to America, to the Republican cause, and to the free world.
Let us begin with why South Africa is so crucially important to the United States, and why the Afrikaners, as a beleaguered minority, must be central to any American strategy in Africa. South Africa is not merely another country on the map; it is the economic powerhouse of the continent, commanding vast reserves of critical minerals that power everything from your smartphones to electric vehicles and defense systems. We hold over 80% of the world’s platinum supply and significant portions of manganese and vanadium, key to steel production and battery technology. In a world racing toward green energy and technological dominance, South Africa’s resources are a geopolitical goldmine. Losing influence here means ceding ground to authoritarian adversaries such as China.
But beyond these resources, South Africa is America’s gateway to Africa. With a sophisticated financial system and a G20 membership, we bridge the Global North and the emerging markets of the Global South. Trade between our nations exceeds $20 billion annually, supporting jobs in manufacturing, agriculture, and services across both countries.
Yet this partnership is fraying under the weight of South Africa’s internal decay and external alignments. America needs a stable, pro-Western South Africa to counter the spread of communism and authoritarianism on the continent. Without it, China’s Belt and Road Initiative will swallow Africa whole, Russia’s Wagner mercenaries will destabilize more regimes, and Iran’s proxies will find safe havens for mischief.
Now, why Afrikaners specifically? As a minority of about 2.5 million – roughly 5% of South Africa’s population – we represent a cultural and ideological bulwark against the tide of radicalism sweeping our land. We are conservatives at heart: family-oriented, entrepreneurial, religious, and committed to private property, rule of law, and individual liberty. Our values align seamlessly with the Republican ethos – think self-reliance, like the pioneers of the American West, or the unyielding faith of the Founding Fathers. Historically, Afrikaners have been the stewards of South Africa’s agricultural heartland, producing 90% of the country’s food despite owning only a fraction of the land. We are the innovators in tech and engineering who keep the lights on and the doctors, teachers, and entrepreneurs who built modern South Africa. Marginalizing us does not just harm a minority; it undermines the very stability America needs in Africa. Supporting Afrikaners means bolstering a pro-American, pro-freedom force that can help reclaim the continent for democracy.
To understand our importance, one must know our background—a story of perseverance, innovation, and tragedy that mirrors the American journey in many ways. The Afrikaners trace our roots to the 17th century, when Dutch settlers arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, establishing a refreshment station for the Dutch East India Company. These were hardy Protestants—farmers, craftsmen, and traders—fleeing religious persecution in Europe, muchlike the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock. These Dutch settlers intermarried with French Huguenots and Germans and forged a unique identity; the Afrikaans language, a blend of Dutch and local tongues, became our voice; the Calvinist faith was our compass.
In the 19th century, as British imperial ambitions encroached, we embarked on the Great Trek – a mass migration inland of over 12,000 pioneers seeking freedom from colonial overreach. Our pioneer forefathers carved out republics such asthe Orange Free State and Transvaal, fighting epic battles against Zulu warriors at Blood River in 1838 and later against the British in the Anglo-Boer Wars of 1880 and 1899-1902.
The British were the first to use concentration camps during war, and during the Anglo Boer War of 1899 to 1902 most of our Afrikaner women and children were placed inconcentration camps by the English. More than 34 000 women and children perished in those concentration camps in some of the worst conditions you could ever imagine.
But after the war, we decided to forgive. We decided to move forward. We built a nation on the principle of self-determination, inventing technologies like the world’s first heart transplant in 1967 and pioneering conservation efforts that protected Africa’s wildlife.
Coming to the second topic: South Africa since 1994, and how the liberal Western vision of a “rainbow nation” has crumbled under the weight of ANC governance. When Nelson Mandela walked free from prison in 1990 and became president in 1994, the world hailed it as a miracle. The end of apartheid promised unity – a rainbow nation where black, white, brown, and Indian people could coexist in harmony. Western liberals, from Bill Clinton to Tony Blair, poured in billions in aid and investment, betting on reconciliation, affirmative action, and a mixed economy to heal old wounds.
For a brief, shining moment during the 1990’s it worked. Under Jacob Zuma from 2009 to 2018, “state capture” siphoned billions from public coffers—funds meant for housing, schools, and hospitals vanished into private jets and mansions. Eskom, our state power utility, was looted, leading to rolling blackouts that crippled industry. The ANC’s cadre deployment – placing loyalists in key positions – prioritized politics over competence, turning bureaucracies into fiefdoms. Racial quotas under Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws sidelined skilled workers, regardless of merit, fostering resentment and inefficiency.
At the commencement of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s tenure in 2018, the damage was irreversible. Unemployment soared above 30%, youth joblessness hit 60%, and inequalityworsened. The “rainbow” faded as tribalism and populism rose: the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema, openly calls for nationalizing everything, from all farmland to all financial institutions and mines. They advocate for land seizures, chanting “Kill the Boer” at rallies. Liberal ideals of meritocracy and non-racialism have been sacrificed on the altar of revenge politics. The ANC destroyed South Africa not through malice alone, but through incompetence masked as transformation. What was promised as upliftment became exploitation; what was envisioned as unity devolved into division. The West’s blind faith in this model – ignoring warning signs of socialism- left us a failed experiment, a cautionary tale for America as you grapple with your own progressive overreach.
This brings us to the third focus point: where South Africa stands today. As an increasinglyfailed state, service delivery has collapsed. Water shortages affect 40% of households; potholed roads and collapsing bridges symbolize infrastructure decay. Rolling power outages have been a reality in South Africa for the past 15 years. The brain drain is real: over a million South Africans, many Afrikaners, have emigrated since 1994, taking their expertise to Australia, Canada, and yes, America.
Land expropriation without compensation, enshrined in the 2018 ANC policy and accelerated under Ramaphosa with a new expropriation act signed late last year.
Racial laws and discrimination against minorities are rampant. BEE mandates high percentages of black ownership in companies, often through shady deals that enrich elites while excluding whites, Indians, and brown people from jobs and contracts. Affirmative action quotas fill universities and civil service with underqualified candidates, sidelining merit.
Crime is an epidemic: over 27,000 murders are committed annually – the highest in the world outside war zones. But farm attacks stand outas a special scourge against rural whites. Since 1994, over 3,000 farmers have been killed in brutal assaults involving torture, rape, and execution-style murders. Today there are less than 30,000 commercial farmers left in South Africa who must feed a growing population of more than 60 million.
Farm attacks and murders are not random robberies; they are ethnically motivated, with attackers targeting isolated homesteads, stealing little but inflicting maximum terror. The government downplays it, claiming it is mere crime, but the patterns—disproportionate violence against white farmers—tell another story. As President Trump rightly noted, it is a crisis demanding international attention.
Finally, our foreign policy has veered dangerously toward authoritarian embrace. South Africa, under ANC influence, has warmed to China, Russia, and Iran, aligning with BRICS to counter the West. In 2023, South Africahosted joint naval exercises with Russia and China in the Indian Ocean codenamed “Mosi”,signaling military cooperation amid Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
With Iran, ties deepened in 2025: high-level military talks in Tehran discussed hosting Iranian naval flotillas in our ports, and the South African government defended Iran’s nuclear ambitions at the UN. Ramaphosa’s government abstained from condemning Russia’s aggression and sued Israel at the ICJ over Gaza, earning praise from Tehran.
In February 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 14204, titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa.” This landmark decree declared it U.S. policy to oppose South Africa’s human rights violations, particularly against white Afrikaners, and its undermining of international norms. It suspended foreign aid – over $500 million annually – until reforms are made. It also created a fast-track refugee program for persecuted Afrikaner farmers and professionals.
Since February, a bill was approved in the http://U.S.House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, further implementing President Trump’s executive order and even suggesting that targeted sanctions be imposed on ANC officials involved in corruption and land grabs. We support this proposal and hope that the act will soon be approved by the full House and the Senate so that President Trump can sign it.
President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs in April 2025 hit South African exports such as steel and agricultural products, retaliating against our BRICS alignments. Our fear now is that the tariffs are punishing the people closest to the U.S., such as Afrikaner farmers. We want to make a plea to the U.S. to lower the tariffs and instead focus on punitive measures against the South African government and radical anti-American politicians.
Within this crisis lies opportunity: strained relations can be leveraged for change. America holds the cards: market access, military aid, and diplomatic clout. By supporting Solidarity and civil society, the U.S. can empower pro-Western voices, pressure the ANC toward accountability, and reclaim South Africa as a strategic ally. I repeat: Please do not punish your friends, such as Afrikaner farmers, with tariffs. Punish the real scoundrels who have acted, and continue to act,against American interests!
In conclusion, my friends, South Africa’s story is one of promises betrayed but not yet lost. The assassination of Charlie Kirk reminds us that violence against our ideas is real, but so is our resolve. The chants of “Kill the Boer” echo the global assault on freedom, but with leaders like President Trump, we have hope.
I urge you: Pressure your government to enforce the executive order fully. Shine a light on farm murders and corruption. Support South African civil society with donations, media reports and access to a platform where we can share our views.
We ask you to counter South Africa’s drift toward tyrants by strengthening ties with true partners like us. Together, we can rebuild a South Africa that honors all its people – a beacon of liberty in Africa, allied with the greatest nation on earth, the United States of America. God bless you, God bless the Republican Party, God bless the great people of Michigan, God bless the Afrikaner people at the southern tip of Africa and God bless the enduring spirit of freedom. Thank you.
- Watch the broadcast here.
US tariffs: ANC politics undermine SA economy
By Flip Buys, Chairman of the Solidarity Movement
Political considerations outweigh economic factors when it comes to US tariffs. Senior ANC leaders such as Fikile Mbalula, ANC Secretary-General, and Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, continue to hurl insults at the US instead of working to strengthen diplomatic relations.
This despite clear warnings from US leaders that “you’re not going to insult America for free”.
Their overt political animosity towards the US government is deepening South Africa’s economic woes and driving up unemployment. Their efforts to solve the ANC’s political problems are poised to lead to economic crises that will mostly affect their voters.
Meanwhile, the ANC refuses to take the US’s insistence on necessary political reforms seriously and treats it simply as an economic issue.
The ANC is clearly stuck in the Cold War era. They continue to cling to the anti-Western political policies and alliances of the past, despite the economic crisis they are causing.
Their narrow-minded racial policy is much more about their historical anti-Western stance than about redress. Their hostility extends to bullying white citizens of South Africa as part of their deep-seated resentment at the West.
The ANC is trying in vain to resist the winds of change, clinging to the illusion that they are still the darling of the world. That is why they are constantly and unnecessarily picking fights with a superpower. This approach is bound to have grave consequences, and they will be dragged kicking and screaming into the future.
Sooner or later, the ANC will realise: The past will not return, the present cannot be ignored, and the future will not fix itself.
Fallout of the Expropriation Act
Xavier Pierre Malaprade
(This article was written by an honours student at the University of Hertfordshire in England and submitted to the Solidarity Movement. It provides a summary of recent political events in South Africa from an international perspective.)
South African politics has slowly but steadily regained international attention after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting US funding to the country, shortly after President Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act into law. This law allows the government to expropriate private property with zero compensation.
President Trump’s decision coincided with the Washington Memorandum, presented by a delegation in Washington DC. This delegation included high-ranking members of the civil rights lobby group AfriForum, the trade union Solidarity (previously known as the Transvaal Miners’ Association from its founding in 1902 until 1913 and the Mine Workers’ Union from then until 1997, and the broader Solidarity Movement (of which both organisations are member institutions). The delegation met with representatives of President Trump’s administration, during which the parties discussed several concerns that they felt had remained unaddressed, or even exacerbated, by the ruling party.
Additionally, President Trump has ordered the establishment of provisions to allow white South Africans to be resettled in the United States as political refugees. While many have applied for the programme out of disillusionment with South Africa’s political system, others – including the Solidarity Movement and residents of the Afrikaner cultural settlement of Orania – have expressed a preference for the United States to instead “help us here”.
[The presenter in the video is Mr Joost Strydom, the leader of the Orania Movement, the organisation responsible for promoting and maintaining the cultural settlement under South African constitutional law. He has gone on record in an interview with Newzroom Afrika to discuss the frequent xenophobic remarks and rhetoric directed at Afrikaners.]
During the delegation’s visit, Dr Ernst Roets (former deputy CEO of AfriForum and Head of Policy at the Solidarity Movement) was interviewed by renowned journalist and political commentator Tucker Carlson. Carlson is known for, among other things, his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Russo-Ukrainian War. In the interview, Dr Roets discussed the context surrounding current events in South Africa. In response to the US cutting funding, the uMKhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, founded and led by former president Jacob Zuma – who has faced several charges of corruption over the years – subsequently made a public bid to prosecute AfriForum for treason.
Since the visit, there has been a massive uproar on both sides of the political aisle within South Africa. A notable example is the slew of death threats issued by Mr Mehmet Vefa Dag, president of the Truth and Solidarity Movement Party (and former spokesman of the now-defunct Land Party), on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Mr Dag called AfriForum’s CEO Kallie Kriel a “terrorist” and demanded that he “be hanged in Sharpeville as an example for humanity,” attaching a photograph of a noose and gallows alongside one of Mr Kriel for added emphasis.
After receiving intense backlash in response to his demands and his post being removed for violating X’s rules, Mr Dag doubled down by attaching a screenshot of his earlier post to a new one, which reads as follows:
We don’t support AfriForum. We don’t support Kallie Kriel. We don’t support Ernst Roets. We don’t support Ian Cameron[.] We don’t support Corne [sic] Mulder[.] We stand with justice, equality, morality and righteous doing. Censorship and intimidation will not work. Continue the good fight.
The Truth and Solidarity Movement Party has made no statements regarding Mr Dag’s behaviour and language, nor has any action been taken by the authorities concerning his blatant incitement of violence against members of the public. Aside from his other controversies – most notably the several charges of domestic and sexual abuse that were levied against him last year (including the rape of his eldest daughter) – Mr Dag also has a history of using antisemitic and homophobic language on various public forums and sites. The Truth and Solidarity Movement Party also officially supports land redistribution, similarly to the EFF – a party whose members are also known for using violent language and rhetoric against Asian and white South Africans, particularly white farmers. According to various statistics, white farmers have been major targets of especially violent criminal attacks over the years.
Aside from the Solidarity Movement and President Trump, several other opponents have emerged against the ANC’s agenda of legalising Expropriation Without Compensation (or “EWC”). Theo de Jager, head of the Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai), has been an outspoken critic of the government on this matter and several others. He recently wrote an open letter to President Trump concerning his approach and response to South Africa’s current affairs. Some time later, De Jager was edited out of a photograph of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s recent delegation to Germany, as used in the Department’s official publication. The reason for this omission has not been explained.
Furthermore, a major agricultural organisation in the Free State province, Free State Agriculture, recently launched a survey among its members to determine whether they supported FSA severing ties with its parent organisation, AgriSA, who openly supports the ANC and its stances regarding land reform and opposition to the United States on a number of geopolitical matters. The results have not yet been released at the time of writing, but FSA has openly opposed the government (and, by extension, AgriSA) on these matters.
Xavier Pierre Malaprade was born in 2003 in Orleans, France, to Afrikaner parents from the former Transvaal, who subsequently moved to England. The second of three children and son of Jacques and Erica Malaprade (née Eloff), he grew up in Caversham, an eastern suburb of Reading, Berkshire. Despite his expatriate upbringing, his family frequently spoke Afrikaans at home, and he developed a strong sense of his cultural identity and heritage as an Afrikaner and as a descendant of the Voortrekkers as he grew older.
After discovering a natural fondness for literature and history, and learning more about the plight of his ethnic brethren overseas, he was moved to pursue a career in journalism in the hopes of exposing corruption and bringing popular attention to the truth. He is now completing his final year of a BA Honours in Politics and International Relations and Journalism at the University of Hertfordshire.
The ANC must stop its ongoing disinformation now
The ongoing false allegations that Solidarity and AfriForum are spreading misinformation abroad are nothing but disinformation and an attempt to make us the scapegoat for the ANC’s mistakes.
The time has come for the ANC to accept responsibility for the diplomatic crisis with the US the country has been plunged into due to the party’s reckless policies, and the ANC must stop blaming Solidarity and AfriForum for it.
Should the US kick South Africa out of the AGOA agreement, the blame must be laid squarely at the door of the Ramaphosa government. Solidarity and AfriForum’s attempts over many years, and by using authoritative research to convince the US to retain South Africa as an AGOA beneficiary are being sabotaged time and again by the ANC’s own policies and actions.
Genocide and sanctions
We want to make it clear that we have never made allegations of a “genocide” of white people in South Africa. We have not called for sanctions against South Africa. We have not requested that any funds to South Africa be cut off by the US. We have explicitly asked that South Africa not be kicked out of AGOA because it would cost thousands of South Africans their jobs. As patriotic South-Africans, we have called on the US not to punish the people of South Africa when the Trump administration is angry with the ANC.
We are positive South African patriots who love the country and its people, even if we do not agree with the ANC’s policies and actions. Although we warned about the dangers of the Expropriation Act, we have not presented allegations to the US government that large-scale expropriation without compensation is taking place in South Africa.
Last year, the Solidarity Movement was part of a group of approximately two million Afrikaners who supported a declaration in which we emphasised our loyalty to the country and its people, at the same time making suggestions about the conditions Afrikaners need to remain in the country in order to make a lasting contribution towards South Africa. The ANC ignored these constructive suggestions.
South African solutions
We reject the ANC’s hypocritical statements that we should solve our problems internally in South Africa rather than to complain about them abroad. The ANC has clearly demonstrated with the BELA negotiations that they are not prepared to respect the constitutional provision for Afrikaans education Their refusal to find solutions in good faith to fundamental issues that profoundly affect our language and culture leaves us with no choice but to internationalise our cause.
We do not ask anyone’s permission to defend our fundamental human rights and legitimate interests because the ANC has proven time and again that these rights and interests cannot be entrusted to them.
We will continue to do so in a factual and balanced manner so as not to cause harm to the country, unlike the ANC that continues to mismanage the country, continues to allow corruption to flourish and continues to further exacerbate unemployment in the country.
Serious consequences for ordinary South Africans if US downsizes its embassy and closes consulates
Source: Solidarity
Even more extensive economic and diplomatic damage, further job losses, an exodus of investors and obstacles being experienced with the issuing of essential trade permits and travel visas – all of this Solidarity believes to count among the possible consequences the downsizing of the US embassy in Pretoria, as well as the possible closure of the US consulate in Johannesburg could have for South Africans.
These realities loom as a result of the South African government’s disintegrating relationship with the United States of America. This diplomatic crisis could result in a dramatic scaling down of the extent of the American diplomatic mission in South Africa.
A dispute over South Africa’s official policy positions triggered a diplomatic crisis between the countries, and this is currently being exacerbated by the Johannesburg Metro Council’s bid to rename the street in which the US consulate is located in Sandton after a Palestinian freedom fighter.
There is a risk that the US may want to close its Johannesburg consulate, while the remaining consulates in Cape Town and Durban could also be in question.
Solidarity believes a further diplomatic miscalculation, as would be the case with the street name change currently being considered by the Metro Council, will further damage an already fragile relationship.
According to the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), the closure of the Johannesburg consulate alone would be a significant blow, as Johannesburg is South Africa’s economic capital and is also home to several US and multinational companies in the country.
The SRI believes the closure will, among other things:
• Complicate the process for South African travellers seeking to obtain visas;
• Obstruct the process South African businesspersons have to follow to obtain visas and for businesses needing essential trade permits and documentation;
• Harm investor confidence as the closure is a sign of a further disintegration of diplomatic relations;
• Cause job losses for South Africans as major US companies may terminate or reconsider their presence in South Africa;
• Cause hotels, restaurants and service providers that depend on consular visitors to lose income, leading to further job losses; and
• Limit US contributions made through the consulate towards valuable intelligence on transnational crime, money laundering and terrorism, reducing South Africa’s resistance to organised crime.
According to Jaco Kleynhans, head of public liaison at Solidarity, far more serious consequences than the closure of a consulate may follow if radical government officials persist in an ideological struggle against the US.
“It is in no South African’s interest to be exposed to the risk of further economic decline and international isolation for the sake of ANC policies and agendas.
“This is what the downsizing of the US mission and the closure of a consulate would bring about.
“Also keep in mind that American companies, many of which have offices in Johannesburg, some of them located close to the consulate in Sandton, employ thousands of South Africans. Moreover, they contribute billions of rand in taxes to the Treasury.
“Unfortunately, it seems that our government is going to persist with its anti-Western narrative and is therefore comfortable with ordinary South Africans being punished for the government’s sins,” Kleynhans cautioned.
South Africa’s relationship with the Trump administration is currently experiencing an unprecedented low.
The relationship has suffered further setbacks in recent weeks due to the offensive statements made towards the US by the former South African ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, and insults from ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.
The US has also taken note of the Ramaphosa government’s silence on the EFF Party’s singing of the struggle song “Kill the Boer” on Human Rights Day.
Ten historical reasons to stay in South Africa
Flip Buys
Source: Maroela Media
United States President Donald Trump caused a stir this month with his executive order, which among other things, allows Afrikaners who are prejudiced by racial laws or expropriation without compensation to seek refuge in America.
The fact that the ANC is throwing everything but the kitchen sink in its attempt to govern alone instead of through a government of national unity has now completely alienated the new government in Washington. This is why the Solidarity Movement will now accept the hand of friendship extended by the Americans and offer practical suggestions on how Afrikaners can be helped to live sustainably in Africa, so that we can make a lasting contribution to the well-being of the country and all its people.
We cannot allow a corrupt, incompetent and racist government to drive us out of the country. That is not who we are. We are determined, in the words of Afrikaans writer and scholar NP van Wyk Louw, to carry the treasure of our language and culture safely through the crowd. After all, we did not cross the oceans, survive through centuries, venture into the unknown, stand up to great powers on the battlefield and produce world-class achievements because we are made of jelly.
Here are 10 historical reasons why we will stay and why we will do things ourselves.
We became Afrikaners in Africa
The first Buys in South Africa was a German soldier who sailed from Amsterdam on the Risdam in 1714 to work for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Like most other Afrikaner families, the Buys family has therefore been in Africa for more than three centuries. We did not come to Africa as Afrikaners. We became Afrikaners here, long before the birth of South Africa as a country. Our language and culture are indigenous to Africa, and nowhere else. We named ourselves, our language and many of our institutions after Africa.
Afrikaners are a self-defined cultural community – a people – and not simply a language group or a racial grouping. Through Afrikaans, we also have a linguistic bond with coloured South Africans, as Afrikaans is one language with many cultures. We come from a Christian Western tradition, and most of us trust in God’s promises of hope for the future.
We are Westerners in and from Africa
NP van Wyk Louw put it strikingly: “In every generation, the task is to keep both our heritages – European and African – close to the heart; to be in Africa, knowing that we are from the old West; to be Western, without disregarding a single difference from Africa” (author’s own translation).
Van Wyk Louw also spoke so beautifully about Afrikaans: “Afrikaans can remain vital only as long as it remains the carrier of our full destiny, of our knowledge-to-both-sides; as long as it continues to think concretely and abstractly; as long as Europe and Africa live in it; Africa indeed, yet also always Europe.”
He saw Afrikaans as the language that connects Western Europe and Africa: “It forms a bridge between the great bright West and the magical Africa, and what great things can arise from their union – this is perhaps what lies ahead for Afrikaans to be discovered.”
The People’s Poet Totius expressed it just as beautifully: “A fine mystical bond of union connects Orange, the Netherlands and Africa throughout everything. No matter how far the waves wash us, the deep heart will always feel – we are secretly one.”
Rather barefoot over the mountains …
After the British had annexed Natal and the Boer Republic of Vryheid in 1843, the Voortrekkers moved again. In the famous words of Johanna Smit to the British representative: “We would rather walk barefoot over the Drakensberg than suffer under British rule any longer.”
The pursuit of freedom as the driving force behind the Great Trek was articulated by Great Trek leaders such as Andries Pretorius, who stated that they left their birthplace not in revolt but in pursuit of freedom. The Dutch thinker Bob Goudzwaard, after studying the history of the Afrikaners, argued that their story was a struggle for survival more than for domination. I find it inconceivable that the sacrifices of our ancestors would be in vain if we were to turn our back on our history.
Collaboration with other communities
It is true that there were many battles and conflicts with indigenous black tribes. However, this is not the full story; there were also numerous peace agreements and instances of collaboration with black groups.
A good description of this is found in the Voortrekker leader Hendrik Potgieter’s report of 3 December 1838 sent to the Governor of the Cape after the Great Trek: “First, we encountered Captain Danser and concluded a peace treaty with him; secondly, King Maroka, with whom we also concluded a peace treaty; thirdly, Captain Pieter Davieds, with whom we likewise concluded a peace treaty; fourthly, King Sikonyela, with whom we also concluded a peace treaty; fifthly Captain Makwana, with whom we also concluded a peace treaty” (a free translation of the original Dutch text).
Churchill on Boer fighters
The most striking description of the Boer fighters was given by the famous statesman Winston Churchill, who came to fight against us as a journalist.
What men they were, these Boers! I thought of them as I had seen them in the morning riding forward through the rain – thousands of independent riflemen, thinking for themselves, possessed of beautiful weapons, led with skill, living as they rode without commissariat or transport or ammunition column, moving like the wind, and supported by iron constitutions and a stern, hard Old Testament God who should surely smite the Amalekites hip and thigh.
Defeated and dejected
The British scorched earth policy and the concentration camps were devastating. My one grandfather and one grandmother were child survivors of the camps, while my other great-grandfather was imprisoned, and his house was arsoned after he had smuggled horses for the Free State Boers as a colonial subject. Prof. David Welsh described the condition of Afrikaners after the Anglo-Boer War as follows:
After 1902 the Afrikaners of the defeated Trekker republics displayed many of the symptoms of a conquered people: impoverished, defeated, despairing, low in morale, and with a powerfully internalised inferiority complex. They were facing the possible obliteration of their identity by the overwhelming power of their conqueror’s institutions and culture.
The recovery after the war was extremely difficult, and historian Dan O’Meara could have been describing my mineworker grandfather when he outlined their struggle until 1948:
The structure of South African capitalism offered few opportunities to those whose home language was Afrikaans. Its language was English, and Afrikaans-speakers were powerfully discriminated against. Promotion and advancement required both proficiency in a foreign language – that of a conqueror – and virtual total acceptance of the structure and values dominant in the economy.
A fiery Cold War
The Cold War was raging in South Africa, with the ANC squarely in the Communist camp. This put the South African Defence Force in direct conflict with the former Soviet Union and Red China that had armed and supported the liberation movements in Southern Africa.
The Cold War froze whatever political manoeuvring space there had been, and the South African Defence Force and South African Police were tasked with preventing a violent revolutionary takeover until the collapse of the Eastern Bloc made negotiations possible. Western powers, particularly the immense pressure from the USA on the NP government, played a major role in the eventual constitutional settlement.
Africa after independence
Understandably, Afrikaners were also very sceptical about the prospects of a successful democracy in South Africa, given the outcomes that Western models had led to in Africa. Martin Meredith sums it up aptly in his book The Fortunes of Africa:
The succession of coups in Africa swept on so rapidly that many episodes passed by in little more than a blur. In the first two decades of independence, there were some forty successful coups and countless attempted coups. Not once was there an occasion when an African government was peacefully voted out of office.
A movement founded
The origins of the Solidarity Movement can be traced back to the 1998 congress of the then Mine Workers’ Union, where the trade union’s national council accepted my proposal to transform the MWU into a modern self-help movement.
The reason for this was twofold: we did not believe that the ANC could successfully govern the country, and we believed that they would create a new racial dispensation that would effectively turn Afrikaners into second-class citizens.
The aim of the Movement was to build the cultural infrastructure that Afrikaners would need to remain sustainably free, safe and prosperous in southern Africa. In so doing, Afrikaners would at the same time be able to make a lasting contribution to the well-being of the country and all its people. Our assumption at the time – that we would initially be denounced as radicals but would gradually gain more support as the outcomes of ANC policy became visible – has been realised in practice.
In the 1990s, the country had to change to prevent a terrible end. The task of our movement now is to help prevent an endless horror.
Foreign support
For years after 1994, it was impossible to gain support for Afrikaners’ legitimate aspirations for cultural autonomy because the ANC had taken the moral high ground, and the consequences of their policies were not yet clear to the outside world.
The ANC’s rotten track record of governance, leading to widespread state failure, along with the ongoing centralisation of power and the accompanying curtailment of freedoms, gave new meaning to Prof. Welsh’s warning about a “tyranny of the majority”.
Welsh stated:
Simple majority rule … can easily – and commonly does – degenerate into a “tyranny of the majority” when elections assume the form of a racial census. Undeniably, majorities have rights, but so do minorities. If […] majorities use their power to steamroller minorities, denying them influence even in decisions that affect their vital interests, the quality of democracy will deteriorate.
Moreover, the comparative evidence from divided societies does not offer much support for the view that the salience of ethnic or racial identities will eventually give way to voting alignments that are shaped more by, say, class, interests or ideology. Democratic constitutional forms have been maintained, but a single-party dominant system become entrenched.
Thirty observations about the visit to the USA
Dirk Hermann
Source: Maroela Media
Major change is currently taking place in the world, and South Africa is not isolated from this.
President Trump’s executive order has placed Afrikaners at the centre of this debate, shining a bright light on South Africa’s domestic and international policy. The Solidarity Movement, of which AfriForum and Solidarity form part, has sent a delegation to America to actively participate in the debate.
However, the South African government remains absent in this debate. The government’s reaction is limited to loud accusations levelled against the Solidarity Movement. The eventual impact of the Solidarity Movement’s visit remains to be determined, but here are 30 observations I have made during the visit:
- The relationship between South Africa and the USA is not a mere misunderstanding that needs to be explained but is a diplomatic crisis. This crisis is set against the larger geopolitical restructuring that is taking place all over the world.
- The dissatisfaction with, even anger over the ANC’s policies, is clear, especially because of the government’s love affair with Hamas, Iran, China and Russia.
- South Africa’s breach of neutrality by bringing a court case against Israel without having any direct interest in the conflict, was an important catalyst. South Africa has become a symbol of anti-Western sentiment and is seen as a threat to America’s national interests.
- This diplomatic crisis does not arise from a single event only, such as the Expropriation Act, but is the result of a long series of reckless domestic and foreign policy decisions by the ANC, which has caused tension spanning across several US administrations.
- The absence of the South African government was conspicuous and is indicative of an implosion of diplomatic ability.
- There is a renewed self-confidence in the USA and the West, which could even be described as a revolution. Any ally of the USA must take this new reality into account, something that South Africa is apparently not doing.
- The USA remains South Africa’s second largest trade partner. For South Africa this is of great advantage, but it is of lesser importance to America. South Africa is also dependent on aid which other allies do not give. This puts South Africa in a position where the country should be more humble.
- South Africa runs a real risk of being kicked out of AGOA. AGOA is a US law that offers trade tariff benefits to African countries. If South Africa forfeits its AGOA participation, the ANC will have to bear full responsibility for it. This could lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.
- The ANC’s policies betray the country and its people. They create an environment of increased unemployment, but the government is ideologically blinded and trapped in a failed and outdated worldview.
- It was never mentioned in any of the discussions that the current diplomatic crisis was due to false information spread by AfriForum and Solidarity. Its cause lies with the ANC’s policy. Rather, there was appreciation for the comprehensive information we provided.
- It is an insult to US diplomatic and intelligence agencies to claim that that they base their policy on false information.
- The only false information is the allegation that the Solidarity Movement is spreading falsehoods. No one has yet been able to prove such claims. Our information is accurate and transparent. The world needs to know the truth, rather than politically correct information seen through the lenses of the ANC.
- Ironically, in the absence of the South African government the Solidarity Movement has stood up for the country’s interests by calling for continued participation in AGOA.
- We acted specifically on behalf of our members in the agricultural, mining, metal and engineering industries, as well as in the chemical and automotive manufacturing sectors. They should not be further disadvantaged as a result of ANC policies.
- The government’s poor diplomatic handling of the matter is exposing the country. They have burnt bridges, and they show no insight or intention to restore relations. There is an exaggerated self-confidence.
- The South African government will struggle to pay a meaningful visit to the US. Their arrogant handling of affairs in recent weeks has hardened relations. Americans read what the President’s spokesperson and others are saying.
- The ANC’s attacks on and threats against the Solidarity Movement, including accusations of high treason, were not received well in the US and have weakened the ANC’s positions, while strengthening ours.
- South Africa will have to take concrete steps to restore diplomatic relations. Mere explanations or sending large delegations there will not help.
- The Solidarity Movement has been received with open arms by the White House, the Congress, the US Department of State and by various other key institutions. We could present our research and facts clearly.
- Continued pressure must be brought to bear on the South African government for policy changes that will benefit the entire country.
- Expropriation without compensation and racial laws are two of the issues Americans are particularly concerned about. Despite the ideological blindness, South Africa will have to rethink these issues. We will help bring about change through pressure and litigation.
- South Africa must realise the world has changed. The ANC’s socialist ideology, attacks on property rights and racial laws are no longer acceptable.
- President Trump’s executive order has fixed the world’s eyes on South Africa. The ANC can no longer rely on Nelson Mandela’s legacy or Western guilt. They are now being judged on what they say and do.
- Afrikaners also find themselves in the spotlight again, this time not as the skunk, but as a community with an internationally recognised cause. Through research we have shown how the ANC has broken the 1994 Accord.
- We gave a clear explanation of the existential threat that laws such as BELA pose to Afrikaners, and it was met with insight.
- The Solidarity Movement could intercede with confidence on behalf of Afrikaners, asking for recognition of and support for the establishment of cultural infrastructure. We could also put federalism and population concentration on the table.
- There is still uncertainty about refugee status. It seems that a resettlement programme is being considered for people who are victims of serious violent crime as a result of race or group identity. No one who wants to take up the offer should be deterred from doing so.
- The executive order and new realignments in the world offer a unique opportunity to Afrikaners. The Trump administration creates a favourable climate, but Afrikaners must take up the responsibility themselves and use these opportunities.
- We are now in a stronger position than before the executive order. We now have open communication channels and have valuable contacts. The appointment of the new US ambassador to South Africa will be important for our future relationship.
- We must continue to build, protect and fight. We live in a new era that offers great opportunities for us as a Western community in Africa.
US anger over SA’s foreign policy could cost thousands their jobs
There is growing anger in the US government over South Africa’s foreign policy. This is going to cost South Africa dearly, and tens of thousands of people who will lose their jobs will pay the price for the government’s reckless policies.
This is the reaction of the Solidarity Movement, of which AfriForum and Solidarity are part, after discussions yesterday with senior members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the USA. This follows discussions held earlier in the week with senior members of the Trump administration in the White House.
Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, says that over the years, the ANC government has alienated the world’s largest economy which could have an enormous impact on South Africa.
“It seems that the South African government does not realise the seriousness of the situation. They are looking for scapegoats, believing that the current situation is just a diplomatic misunderstanding. In reality, this is a diplomatic crisis, but the ANC insists that they will not be bullied.
“The levels of frustration in the USA are so high that a bill is being considered to review the bilateral relations between the USA and South Africa,” says Buys.
This draft bill was already approved by the House of Representatives in 2024 but not taken up by the Senate. Given the rapidly changing relationship between South Africa and the US, members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs are currently considering re-submitting the law to the House of Representatives.
Since Republicans now also control the Senate, the law will have a better chance of acceptance. Given the critical stance that the White House and members of the Trump administration have taken towards South Africa, the climate for new legislation on the US relationship with South Africa is even better now.
This bill details South Africa’s historic ties with the terrorist group Hamas, and with countries such as China, Iran and Russia, and argues that South Africa has abandoned its policy of neutrality.
Furthermore, the bill also addresses South Africa’s flawed domestic policy, the government’s inability to govern the country and its laxity towards corruption.
A comprehensive review of the bilateral relations between the USA and South Africa is proposed in the bill.
If this bill is passed, it would be solely the fault of the government, and specifically the ANC. This situation has been building up over many years and the recent passing of the Expropriation Act was merely the trigger.
This bill could have disastrous consequences for South Africa’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – a law offering tariff relief to African countries.
Currently, AGOA and trade with the USA create jobs for approximately 500 000 South Africans.
The Solidarity Movement has proposed that, instead of punishing ordinary South Africans, the focus should rather be on sanctions against corrupt individuals and pressure on ANC leaders.
“The South African government is conspicuous by its absence in the USA. Its diplomatic abilities seem to have collapsed.
The Solidarity Movement cannot and does not want to act on behalf of the government, but we believe our call for intensified political pressure to bring about policy change is for the benefit of all South Africans,” says Buys.
Furthermore, the Solidarity Movement has requested members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to recommend to the American President that South Africa remain a member of AGOA.
However, there is also a request to sustain the political pressure on Sout Africa to bring about a policy change.
See the draft bill here.
Diplomatic differences between the USA and SA run deeper than a ‘misunderstanding’
A delegation of the Solidarity Movement, AfriForum and Solidarity today met with senior representatives of the Trump administration at the White House in Washington DC.
This delegation is currently meeting with senior government officials in the USA, and will, among other things ask that pressure be intensified on ANC leaders for policy change rather than suspending South Africa’s participation in AGOA.
The Solidarity Movement’s delegation to the White House was led by the chairperson of the Solidarity Movement Flip Buys, and included Kallie Kriel, AfriForum chief executive, Dr Dirk Hermann, Solidarity chief executive and Jaco Kleynhans, head of international liaison at the Solidarity Movement.
According to Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, the South African government’s lack of urgency to restore diplomatic relations with the USA is creating a growing crisis for South Africa.
Buys pointed out that the jobs of more than half a million workers with about 2 million dependents depend directly on South Africa’s participation in AGOA, and for this reason the Solidarity Movement feels so strongly that the US should not kick the country out of AGOA in September.
A research report on the importance of AGOA for ordinary South Africans was handed to senior government officials in Washington. The Movement also requested that humanitarian aid to South Africa, such as the PEPFAR programme not be stopped as this could harm vulnerable people in South Africa.
For this reason, we urge the US not to punish South Africa as a country if it has diplomatic differences with the SA government but to rather pressure ANC leaders to right what is wrong. We cannot allow it that ordinary South Africans suffer even more as a result of the mistakes of the ANC.
The Solidarity Movement’s task to act on behalf of ordinary South Africans is greatly impeded by the South African government’s persistent view that the diplomatic dispute is simply due to misunderstandings, and that they do not plan any policy changes despite the multiple crises the ANC-led government policies have landed the country in.
Our feedback from senior US government leaders is that the diplomatic disputes with South Africa have profound causes and are far more profound than being just a communication gap or “disinformation” as the SA government is claiming it to be.
The delegation of the Solidarity Movement also expressed its serious concerns about the consequences of the new Expropriation Act, racial laws, calls for violence against Afrikaners and attacks on Afrikaans schools such as the passing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (BELA).
The delegation also pointed out that they recognise and respect South Africa’s sovereignty, but that the government cannot hide behind it when the human rights of a minority group are being disregarded or threatened by laws such as the BELA education legislation, the discriminatory racial dispensation or the Expropriation Act.
It is necessary that these matters be raised abroad because the government has shown by the BELA talks, its continued refusal to amend racial laws, and the signing of the Expropriation Act without consulting its GNU partners that they have shut the door to talks in good faith in South Africa.
The memorandum that was handed to the Trump administration is attached hereto.
