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.
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.
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.
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.
Successful and resilient language and cultural communities are characterized by healthy, stable and flourishing education and career training. As far as the Afrikaans language and cultural communities are concerned, Akademia proudly carries the torch for the Afrikaans university system. As independent higher education institution from the Christian and classical university tradition, this institution unequivocally celebrates its calling as mother language study home and vocationally-driven there is being worked toward a free future.
Akademia: A hopeful alternative for Afrikaans speakers
Prof. Danie Goosen, academic head at Akademia, says that the institution represents a hopeful alternative for Afrikaans speakers within the South African university system. This vocation-driven right of existence is of great importance in a time where Afrikaans as primary language of instruction at public universities are dwindling or simply discarded.
As community institution Akademia’s mission is to serve the academic ideals of a specific language and cultural community and to provide an academic home where both the mind and heart are shaped. According to Marthinus Visser, managing director of the institution, Akademia strives to offer more than world-class training. The institution is also associated to the classical role of the university system – to bring students to an intellectual, emotional and philosophical maturity. “Akademia continuously works in faith, hope and love to be of service to the community in this manner. In this way we establish a renewed Afrikaans university system,” Visser explains.
From a humble beginning to a significant role player.
Since 2012 the institution offers various study options to students and developed quickly to a preferred Afrikaans study home. Except for five dynamic faculties, students also has the
opportunity tot study via the full-time campus model or the after-hours distance model. The former is presented at the institution’s campusses in Centurion, and soon also in the Paarl, whilst the second option equips students from all over the country to complete their studies via the network of centres or the e-learning option. The latter also offers Afrikaans speakers from outside of South Africa the opportunity to study in their mother language. Akademia’s international footprint include countries such as Australia, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, the United Emirates and the United States of America.
Thirteen years of growth
This year the institution looks back on thirteen years of presenting classes and according to Visser there will be purposefully be built on the positive momentum that was unlocked in the preceding years. According to Visser, this momentum gives more power to the institution’s mission statement as community institution.
“Akademia has, over the course of its existence, already taken several major and significant steps, and meticulous work has been done to achieve goals in various areas. Whether it was the expansion of our academic programme offerings, the establishment of new student life traditions, geographical expansion opportunities, or the growth of staff and student numbers, the standard has been set high, and the foundation has been laid for an even greater impact,” Visser explains. From the registration of Akademia as an independent higher education institution on 3 January 2012 and with student numbers of 42 students over five programmes the institution has grown to about 3 800 students, five faculties and 23 programmes.
Further expansion of the Afrikaans university system
Visser emphasises that Akademia is thankful to celebrate the growth of the past thirteen years, but that the institution is once again experiencing a renewed sense of vocational drive regarding its responsibility toward the future. “Akademia is now established and the time for deepening, broadening, and expansion has arrived. With our values as compass and our vision as the destination, we are dedicated to fulfilling this important task,” says Visser.
From 2026, the institution will enjoy a campus presence in the Paarl in the Western Cape. This geographical expansion will not only expand Akademia’s existing footprint in the region, but will also strengthen its commitment to the community.
Akademia’s campus dream, namely to establish a world-class residential campus in Pretoria where 5 000 full-time undergraduate students and about 1 500 postgraduate will be at home, is currently in its developmental phase. The target date for this project, in partnership with the estate development company Kanton, is set for January 2028. The Futurebuilder (Toekomsbouer) project offers members of the Afrikaans language and cultural communities the opportunity to not just dream of the future together, but to actively build together by way
of donations, investments and testamentary bequests in order to make the campus dream come true. Please send an email to skenking@akademia.ac.za and one of the Akademia fund managers will be in contact with you to arrange a visit and to discuss the nature of your donation, contribution or legacy.
A world-class campus the making. The achitect representation offers an outline of how the new Akademia campus will look.
The Futurebuilder campaign was launched to realise Akademia’s dream of a world-class residential campus in Pretoria in order to ensure the continued existence of the Afrikaans university system.
We took note of Mr Trump’s Executive Order with regard to South-Africa in general and Afrikaners in particular.
His Order and the other statements of senior American officials place the spotlight on contentious issues in South Africa, like our foreign policy and the situation of Afrikaners as an indigenous cultural community. We welcome the concern of important Americans about our situation but believe the solution must be found in South Africa.
We reaffirm our firm commitment to the country and its people, although we differ with the ANC about the direction of the country, the many race laws that make us second class citizens, their treatment of the Afrikaans community with the Bela act, laws like the Expropriation act, and the blatant threats made by certain politicians towards Afrikaners.
However, we want to put on record the following:
• We did not accuse the government of large-scale race-based land grabs, or distribute false information in this regard;
• We did not and will not ask for sanctions against South-Africa, or that funds for vulnerable people be cut off by the US government;
• We explicitly asked senior US officials not to kick South-Africa out of the Agoa act, because of the suffering it will cause to farmers and their workers, and the livelihoods of workers in the motor and chemical industries;
• The Order of Mr Trump is the result of reckless policies of the ANC leadership that alienate a superpower, and not a so-called disinformation campaign from our side;
• It is furthermore a product of years of diplomatic neglect by South African diplomats in our engagements with the US at many different forums and on a wide range of issues
• We were not aware that Mr. Trump would issue this order
• We believe that it is not in the interests of South Africa if there is a deterioration in the relationship with the world’s largest economy and a big trade partner and donor of our country.
In the light of the latest developments, we will urgently request a meeting with President Ramaphosa, to address the differences between us and to find solutions to that. Secondly, I will also lead a delegation to the United States for discussions with White House representatives later the month, in order for us to put the situation in SA in context.
The G20 summit has brought international attention to South Africa, and this will continue throughout the year. If the ANC, as leading party in the Government of National Unity and thus the chair of the G20 summit, wants to be a global player, its international and domestic policies must align accordingly.
This includes ensuring that the ANC does not violate the constitutional settlement by attempting to downscale Afrikaans schools and mother-tongue education through legislation, or the racial dispensation that are incompatible with a constitutional democracy, a functioning state and a growing economy that can provide jobs for everyone.
The Solidarity Movement, including Solidarity and AfriForum, represents approximately 600,000 Afrikaner families and 2 million individuals.
Our message to Presidents Ramaphosa and Trump is that we want to solve our problems within South Africa but we also appreciate diplomatic pressure from important roleplayers like the US. We are willing to engage in honest discussions with both parties about the state of the country and our community, and we commit to conveying facts correctly and responsibly, as we have always done.
The U.S. should empower South Africans, including the civil society, private sector and political parties to engage with each other and international roleplayers with a simple focus of being a country that gives space to all its people, respects minority rights and is loyal to its international commitments on issues such as the opposition to racial discrimination and the improvement of human rights and dialogue.
The Solidarity Movement remains committed to dialogue and is open to cooperation. We welcome the political pressure that the U.S. is placing on the ANC but will take a stand against the withdrawal of aid. We support South Africa’s continued participation in AGOA.
Ordinary South Africans should not bear the cost of diplomatic disputes and the ANC’s reckless policies. The withdrawal of aid could have severe social consequences and lead to increased unemployment. However, any aid must be carefully evaluated and must also address the priorities of the Afrikaner community.
The solution is that international assistance to South Africa should continue, while Afrikaners receive practical support in their pursuit of cultural autonomy. We want to establish the conditions for Afrikaners to stay in South-Africa, in order for us to make a sustainable contribution towards the country and all its people. We did not come to Africa as Afrikaners. Centuries ago, our ancestors came here from various countries in Europe, but became Afrikaners here, long before the birth of South Africa as a country. Our language and culture are indigenous to Africa. 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.
We emphasise that through Afrikaans we also have a bond through our common language with the majority of coloured (“bruin”) South Africans, as well as with a significant number of people from other South African communities. We respect these other Afrikaans cultural communities and will cooperate and have been cooperating with them in all appropriate issues.
Afrikaners are committed to South Africa and the continent. We may disagree with the ANC, but we love our country. As in any community, there are individuals who wish to emigrate, but repatriation of Afrikaners as refugees is not a solution for us.
We want to build a future in South Africa and have minimum living conditions that we will set and work towards.
If the international community helps us create an environment where Afrikaners can sustainably remain in South Africa, we can make a lasting contribution to the well-being of the country and all its people.
Our loyalty to the country is as steadfast as our legitimate pursuit of cultural freedom and the abolition of racial discrimination against us.
This commitment to our country and cultural freedom is outlined in the Afrikaner Declaration, which was signed and introduced last year along with community leaders.
The Solidarity Movement, specifically Solidarity and AfriForum, will immediately begin developing proposals to resolve disputes over expropriation and race-based policies. Further information will be announced soon.
The Solidarity Movement announced that it would engage in talks with the US government about Pres. Trump’s statements made in the US media on Sunday evening about South Africa. At the same time, the Movement will engage with the South African government and will continue to exercise pressure locally to address policies that are harmful to the country.
On Sunday evening Trump announced that funding to projects in South Africa would be stopped immediately. Last year, the US government funded projects in South Africa worth more than 400 million dollars, especially to combat HIV/AIDS. South African universities also received funding from the US government. Clearly, Trump is aware of Pres. Ramaphosa’s signing of the Expropriation Act and this, combined with the South African government’s continued international legal battle against Israel, were probably the catalysts leading to Trump’s interventions. Advisors in the White House are also currently encouraging Trump to take a stand on minority rights in South Africa. This comes in the wake of, among other things, reports on the extent of racial discrimination against minorities in South Africa, the extent of farm attacks and murders over the past three decades and the signing of the BELA Act. Trump has been fully briefed on this by his Africa advisors over the past few days.
The Solidarity Movement is one of the largest civil movements in South Africa and represents around two million South Africans and a network of civil society institutions, including Solidarity and AfriForum. During the past few years, the Movement has been in contact with various US politicians to ensure that South Africa’s relations with USA do not run aground.
“The Solidarity Movement will ask the Trump Administration to exercise pressure on the ANC’s policies, but not to punish ordinary South Africans through measures causing greater unemployment or harming the vulnerable. “We do not like the ANC, but we love the country,” Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, said. At the same time more foreign pressure on the ANC is essential because the constitutional settlement is currently being violated, and the ANC continues to govern on its own while a government of national unity (GNU) is indeed in power.The US has a major responsibility to ensure that constitutional promises such as property rights, mother tongue schools and universities and the abolition of racial discrimination are fulfilled because those promises were instrumental in the constitutional settlement of the 1990’s.
The Solidarity Movement plans a series of diplomatic actions that will include discussions with local diplomats and visits to Washington. The Solidarity Movement will soon release more information about the planned campaign.
“We will have discussions on issues such as expropriation, education, healthcare, race laws and AGOA. The outcome we are looking for is pressure to effect a change of policy, but not financial type of sanctions against the country. Kicking South Africa out of AGOA, for example, will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. The result will be greater poverty and a breeding ground for more radical policy,” Buys said. Meanwhile, the Solidarity Movement continues to exert pressure locally. According to Buys, institutions such as Solidarity and AfriForum are continuing legal action against the new Expropriation Act, National Health Insurance, BELA and the country’s racial dispensation. “We are also planning to have talks with the ANC on its reckless international policy which could have devastating consequences for ordinary South Africans,” Buys said.
Solidarity, AfriForum and the Solidarity Support Centre for Schools (SCS) started legal action against the promulgation of the BELA Act.
According to these organisations, President Cyril Ramaphosa acted irrationally and contrary to various agreements as well as a recommendation by the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, by promulgating the BELA Act in its entirety. Gwarube recommended that the implementation of the language and admission clauses in the Act be postponed due to the absence of appropriate norms and standards.
According to these organisations, the minister also acted irrationally by having co-signed the promulgation notice contrary to her own recommendations to Ramaphosa of barely two weeks earlier that this Act should not be promulgated in its entirety. The Minister also made recommendations to Ramaphosa that would have afforded protection to, among other things, mother tongue education and Afrikaans schools.
Solidarity, AfriForum and the SCS, all part of the Solidarity Movement, already issued legal letters to Ramaphosa and Gwarube respectively, pointing out that the signing of the promulgation notice is irrational.
In terms of the legal letters, the Minister and the President have ten days to resolve the dispute. If there is no solution, the parties have no other choice but to go to court.
According to AfriForum Chief Executive Kallie Kriel, the promulgation of the BELA Act in its entirety is an act of aggression by the government against Afrikaans schools and children. “The promulgation is an indication that the ANC is turning the government of national unity into a government of national disunity that seeks to simply coopt parties like the DA and FF+ to help the ANC in implementing its policy,” Kriel added.
Kallie Kriel
Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann indicated that his organisation was unpleasantly surprised to see that the BELA Act was promulgated in its entirety, without any of the conditions as recommended by the Minister to the President. According to him, the promulgation is a dishonourable breach of the agreement the government signed with Solidarity at Nedlac. “The Constitution and case law confirm that the minister’s recommendation, as the person responsible for the implementation of the Act, carries weight. The promulgation of a law is not the sole task of the President. The purpose of the Minister’s recommendations is to postpone the implementation of the Act so that the necessary steps can be taken to implement the legislation effectively,” Hermann said.
Dirk Hermann
According to Leon Fourie, chief executive of the SCS, the President provided no reasons why he had simply ignored the Minister’s recommendations and agreements that had been reached. “It therefore appears that the President’s irrational promulgation of the BELA Act in its entirety succumbed to political pressure from the anti-Afrikaans elements in the ANC,” Fourie said.
Leon Fourie
Werner Human, the Solidarity Movement’s Head of Operations, indicated that, apart from the legal action being taken against the BELA Act’s promulgation notice, the institutions belonging to the Solidarity Movement will also focus on helping to ensure that the norms and standards and the regulations on the language and admission policies of schools, which must now be drafted by the Minister of Basic Education, contain provisions that will attempt to help prevent abuse of power by education officials and the targeting of Afrikaans schools. “The institutions of the Solidarity Movement also reserve the right to take legal action against the unconstitutionality of the BELA Act itself as well upon completion of the legal action against the promulgation notice,” Human added.
Werner Human
Click here for the Letter of Demand for both the President and the Minister.
International Perspective 3: From GNU to G20: What to keep an eye on in South Africa in 2025
Dear friends, acquaintances and interested parties abroad
In this third edition of our international newsletter we discuss the huge diplomatic mistakes the South African government made in 2024, the opportunities contained in a government of national unity, and what it all holds for 2025.
Kind regards
Jaco Kleynhans
Head: International Liaison
Solidarity Movement, South Africa
From GNU to G20: What to keep an eye on in South Africa in 2025
Introduction: After a year of contrasts, major uncertainty still exists regarding South Africa’s future
A year ago, few people would probably have predicted that in 2024, South Africa would have a broad coalition government, also known as a Government of National Unity (GNU), for the first time since the 1990s. The GNU was a direct result of the ANC’s extremely poor performance in the national elections on 29 May. This party’s support fell from 57,5% in 2019 to 40,2% in 2024. This decline was driven by a sharp drop in participation by traditional ANC supporters and the rise of former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which enjoyed massive support among Zulu voters in KwaZulu-Natal as well as in parts of Mpumalanga and Gauteng.
The ANC leadership had to choose between moving towards the political centre by working with more moderate parties, or forming a coalition government with its archenemies, the MK and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), both extreme left-wing splinter groups of the ANC. The latter option was unthinkable for the Ramaphosa camp in the ANC, partly because of faction fights within the ANC and the incompatibility of the Ramaphosa and Zuma camps, and partly because of the negative implications that a hard-left coalition government could have for South Africa’s economy and international standing.
The result was a government of national unity, or perhaps rather a broad coalition government consisting of ten parties, namely (in order of size in parliament) the ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Rise Mzansi, Al Jama-ah, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and Good.
After more than six months of a GNU, it is clear that the GNU has given new hope to many South Africans, while also contributing to a slight improvement in South Africa’s international standing. The consensus is that the GNU should be given a fair chance. However, in recent months it also became clear that the ANC, especially in some areas such as economic policy, social policy and foreign affairs, has been unwilling to make concessions within the GNU. The party’s dominant role in these but also other areas, even those with ministers from other parties serving in the cabinet (such as Education and Agriculture), is an ever-growing challenge that could ultimately derail the GNU.
South Africans will likely go to the polls in a local election no later than September 2026. The influence of the GNU, tensions within the ANC, the role of MK (especially in diverting ANC support, but also how Zuma plays into faction fights within the ANC) and a series of challenges such as weak economic growth, unemployment, persistently high crime levels, civil disobedience, voter apathy and poor municipal service delivery, and even the total decay in towns across the country (with the exception of the Western Cape) create huge uncertainty in the run-up to the 2026 elections. All of this will play into important political decisions in 2025 as the ANC will try to prevent further losses in support in 2026.
At the end of 2024, South Africa is still a country facing huge challenges and even increasing crises. Hope for a GNU that must begin to show real results, or South Africa’s position as, for example, the chair of the G20 Summit in 2025, is for most South Africans not enough reason to approach the new year with optimism. Real results in combating corruption, improving fiscal discipline, achieving economic growth, creating jobs, combating crime, improving infrastructure and improving basic service delivery are urgently needed. In all these areas, the government has largely failed at national, provincial and local level in 2024, again with the exception of the Western Cape and a few other towns and cities in other provinces.
Pressure points that will determine South Africa’s direction in 2025
Economy
The South African economy shrank by 0,3% in the third quarter of 2024, despite most economists expecting slight growth. South Africa’s exports fell by 3,7% during the same period. Therefore, it appears that 2024 has once again been a year of almost no economic growth for the country, while the population and unemployment continue to rise. For South Africa to get its fiscal house in order, high economic growth would be essential.
South Africa’s budget deficit also increased by more than expected in 2024. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana recently announced that the budget deficit had risen to 5% of national output, while the expectation in February was still 4,5%. South Africa’s public debt, and the cost of financing it, continues to rise, while the economy is barely growing, with the growth forecast for 2025 expected to be 1,7% at best.
There are many reasons for the poor economic growth of the past decade or so. The most significant are certainly huge infrastructure problems and in particular electricity supply problems (which have largely been resolved), transport problems (rail transport and ports remain in chaos while the country’s road network continues to deteriorate), corruption, low business confidence (due to overregulation, populist political statements, policy uncertainty and weak political leadership), a massive loss of foreign investment, crime, poor education leading to skills shortages and skills mismatches, and growing concerns over instability in Southern Africa.
According to the Reserve Bank, South Africa’s positive net international investment position (IIP) has declined from a revised R2 424 billion at the end of March 2024 to R2 052 billion at the end of June 2024. In recent years there has been a massive withdrawal by investors, but also by large overseas companies, from the South African economy. During 2024, Shell, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Rolex, AngloGold Ashanti, TotalEnergies and BP all announced that they would withdraw from South Africa or that they had already begun to withdraw.
The consequences are persistently high unemployment (the official rate currently stands at 32,1%, with unemployment exceeding 40% if a broader definition is applied that includes discouraged job seekers). The consequences of persistently high unemployment are growing poverty, pressure on the welfare state (almost 28 million South Africans, close to 50% of the population, receive social grants every month) and increasing social unrest. The situation is becoming increasingly volatile with enormous political risks. The ANC’s loss of support during 2024 was a direct result of this poor economic performance. If the GNU cannot achieve better economic growth, it could lead to further growth in support for extreme left-wing populist parties such as the EFF and MK.
In 2025, it will be essential for the government to bring its spending under control without raising taxes. Threats of possible tax increases are contributing to a continued outflow of expertise from the country. South Africa currently has only 7,4 million individuals who pay income tax, and the burden on this small group of taxpayers is already too high. The budget speech in February 2025 will be crucial.
The ANC recently announced that it intends to proceed with plans to amend the South African Constitution to allow for expropriation of property without compensation. This would be a huge setback for property rights in South Africa and would have even more adverse consequences for the economy. The government’s plans to proceed with the introduction of an unaffordable National Health Insurance scheme also do not bode well. Apart from the economic consequences, these issues will also lead to more tension within the GNU.
The workings of the GNU
The Government of National Unity is still in its infancy, even though most stakeholders realise the urgency for clear results. The challenges for the GNU are primarily the ANC’s position that, as the largest party in the GNU, it can still dominate the determination of government policy. Therefore, the way the ANC implements policies that most other parties in the GNU disagree with is creating increasing tension. This could lead to a major crisis in 2025 and may even bring an end to the GNU.
One example is the way in which the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (the BELA Act) – a reform of the education system that will lead to greater centralisation of education and, in particular, a huge loss of mother tongue education – was implemented. The National Health Insurance Act (NHI), expropriation without compensation and other controversial policies clearly aimed at appeasing the ANC’s left-wing factions, who are too closely aligned to parties such as MK and the EFF, could pose the greatest threats to the GNU in 2025.
Already there are clear signs of improved service delivery, a more focused effort to combat corruption, and improved systems, infrastructure and management capacity in several government departments, especially those with ministers from the DA, IFP, PA and FF+. However, if the ANC continues to adjust fiscal policy, foreign policy and social policy without any concessions to the other parties in the GNU in an attempt to prevent further loss of support from the left wing of the party, this could lead to the end of the GNU, which could result in a massive crisis for South Africa.
A large majority of South Africans were and still are convinced that the GNU was the best option on the table after the general election. However, the success of the GNU has been extremely limited so far, and ongoing disputes are creating increasing risks to its sustainability.
It is essential that all parties in the GNU, including the ANC, present it as the best option for all of South Africa. Voter confidence in the GNU is crucial in countering populist resistance, which is also stoking division within the GNU. However, it is also necessary that the ANC should not view the GNU merely as a short-term project during which the party’s majority position must be restored. The way in which various left-wing policies have been forcefully pushed through in recent months indicates that ideology and party unity are too often more important to Ramaphosa and the ANC’s national leadership than the success of the GNU. This urgently needs to change.
Divisions within the ANC and Ramaphosa leadership
The ANC has been losing support for a decade. The bulk of this loss of support is simply due to voters not going to vote. In 2014, more than 73% of registered voters voted. This dropped to 66% in 2019 and to 58% in 2024. If one takes into account that many young people who become eligible to vote simply do not register to vote, the total participation rate of eligible voters is as low as 40%.
In many ways the ANC is following a similar path to other so-called liberation movements in Africa, such as Swapo in Namibia, Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe and Frelimo in Mozambique. In all of these cases, political power has often been accompanied by growing corruption, cadre deployment, ideological clamour and ultimately a growing rift with voters.
For the ANC, there should be only one solution to its problems and that is the establishment of a better, cleaner government that delivers services, develops infrastructure, deals effectively with the crime situation and promotes economic growth.
Seven years after Cyril Ramaphosa became president of the ANC, he is still failing to effectively control the party. Even after Zuma formed his new party, the MK Party, and took a portion of the ANC’s Zulu wing with him, the party remains deeply divided with various factions constantly undermining each other. However, in the run-up to the party’s next National Conference in December 2027, where a new president will also be elected, it seems increasingly likely that the faction fighting will intensify.
Ramaphosa’s inability to leverage his political capital and consolidate his support within the party is unfortunately also playing out within the government with constant indecision or concessions to the party’s more left-wing factions, often resulting in poor policy.
Ramaphosa is convinced that the GNU, and the levels of trust that voters continue to place in it, coupled with his international standing, especially now as chair of the 2025 G20 Summit, will carry him through the next year or so. However, at a time when the ANC needs a firm leader with the ability to admonish political bullies within the party, such as Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Ramaphosa is not displaying the necessary strength of character. The consequence will probably be a deepening of divisions in the run-up to the 2026 municipal elections.
Global power struggle, Trump’s America, G20 Summit and foreign relations
It is often clear that President Ramaphosa enjoys being active on the international stage more than he does dealing with enormous domestic challenges. When he attends international summits and meetings and can meet with world leaders, he is clearly more comfortable than when he has to help steer a complex government in a complex country with vast challenges in a better direction.
Since 1994, South Africa’s foreign policy has been strongly based on non-alignment. During the Mandela and Mbeki years, efforts were made to achieve exactly that. On 26 March 1998, Bill Clinton was not only the first US president to visit South Africa; he was also the first US president to address the South African parliament. In his speech, he particularly referred to “America’s profound and pragmatic stake in South Africa’s success”. In his speech, Clinton emphasised the USA’s economic and strategic need to work with South Africa.
Directly arising from Clinton’s 1998 visit to Africa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was drafted in the US Congress and passed by Republicans and Democrats in May 2000, shortly before Clinton’s departure from the White House. Many of the Congressmen were present in the South African parliament when Clinton delivered his speech on 26 March 1998.
After AGOA, huge efforts and billions of US dollars were also invested in Africa in the fight against HIV, in peacekeeping operations and in countering terrorism in the Sahel region and in East Africa.
However, the goodwill between the US and South Africa in the first 15 years after 1994 gave way to increasing American scepticism, weak South African foreign policy, growing influence in South African politics from China, Russia and Iran, and ultimately a complete loss of trust in South Africa over the next 15 years.
Several events of the past three years are well known, as is the fact that South Africa’s words of non-alignment and deeds of friendship with Russia, China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, to name just a few problematic friendships, have led to challenges in the country’s relationship with the West.
AGOA is due to be renewed or replaced in 2025. Will South Africa still be able to benefit from this by January 2026? Will foreign investors’ confidence in South Africa be restored, which could lead to renewed investment in South Africa’s economy? Will South Africa take advantage of the opportunities that hosting the G20 Summit presents for the country?
The last state visit by a US president to South Africa was Barack Obama’s visit in 2013. Twelve years later, Donald Trump is expected to attend the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November 2025. This holds huge risks and opportunities. Will Ramaphosa be able to manage the risks and seize the opportunities?
In recent years, South Africa has too often found itself caught in the global power struggle between parties from the developed West and parties from the developing Global South. The ANC’s ideological bias has been evident in its refusal to condemn Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, by conducting a joint naval exercise with China and Russia off South Africa’s east coast, by accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians at the International Court of Justice and by constantly courting countries like Iran. These kinds of missteps simply cannot be repeated in 2025.
South Africa remains in an excellent position to take a truly non-aligned position. The country’s geographical distance from conflict areas in the global power struggle and its status as a democracy and the most industrialised and best developed country in Africa, still hold a wealth of opportunities.
Unfortunately, for the past six months South Africa’s foreign policy has been controlled exclusively by the ANC, with no concessions to other parties in the GNU. The ANC views the conduct of foreign policy as its sole prerogative. This likely means that the words and actions of Ramaphosa and the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ronald Lamola, on non-alignment will continue to leave too much room for interpretation.
Conclusions
After a disastrous 15 years of almost no economic growth, a loss of social cohesion in a diverse and complex country, widespread corruption, the decay of infrastructure and service delivery, a loss of global influence and credibility, some of the highest crime rates in the world and a country heading towards an abyss of government failure and anarchy, 2024 surprisingly was a year of new hope. The ANC’s loss of political support and the birth of the GNU, the end of load shedding, renewed government success at provincial and local levels in the Western Cape, and numerous community initiatives across South Africa that, on their own, have attempted to tackle problems with crime, decaying infrastructure and other challenges, all indicate that South Africa can still be steered into a new and better direction.
This requires a greater devolution of powers to provincial and local governments. Greater private initiatives and even the privatisation of many state-owned enterprises become necessary in a time of fiscal crisis. The national government must be reduced, corruption must be eradicated and efficiency in all government departments must be a priority.
Greater respect for and involvement of minorities is essential. Although 11% of South Africans have Afrikaans as their mother tongue, only 5% of public schools are still Afrikaans-language schools. The government’s current attempt to make these schools multilingual and eventually English must be stopped. The language and cultural rights of all ethnic groups in South Africa must be respected.
Specialist units must be established to investigate the ongoing crime crisis, including farm attacks and farm murders, cash-in-transit robberies and gang violence, to highlight just three of the most serious crises. The fact that South Africa has the highest rate of rapes per capita in the world must be declared a national disgrace. The enormous challenges involved in prosecuting criminals must be resolved.
In terms of foreign policy, South Africa will need to seize the opportunities presented in 2025. While the relationship with the US urgently needs to be restored, a healthy balance must be found between ties with the West and fast-growing economies in the Global South. It does not have to be one or the other.
South Africa cannot condemn Israel for its actions in Gaza and, at the same time, refuse to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. South Africa’s silence on human rights violations in Sudan, Mozambique and Zimbabwe is disgraceful. Selective morality has never been a sustainable foreign policy.
The South African economy is highly dependent on exports and foreign investment and is strongly affected by international events due to factors such as the volatility of the South African currency, South Africa’s dependence on oil and gas imports and the important role mineral exports continue to play in the South African economy. As an open economy with high global exposure, it is important for South Africa to inspire global trust, build credibility and project an image of stability. In this, the country has increasingly failed over the past fifteen years. Substantial progress will need to be made in 2025.
Afrikaners as a minority in South Africa in 2025
Afrikaners are deeply committed to South Africa and the future of the country. Two Afrikaners currently serve as ministers in the Government of National Unity, namely in the portfolios of Correctional Services (Pieter Groenewald) and Home Affairs (Leon Schreiber).
Afrikaners are very strongly connected to the land, communities, towns, cities, institutions, colours, flavours, languages and cultures of South Africa. Afrikaners as a minority of less than 5% of the population contribute overwhelmingly to creating solutions to economic challenges (through small businesses), food security (through commercial agriculture), rural safety (through hundreds of neighbourhood watches staffed by thousands of trained volunteers), educational issues (through their own, private training institutions) and many other daily problems in South Africa.
Today, there are 142 laws in South Africa that require racial classification, prescribe racial discrimination, prescribe racial quotas, or in some way enable discrimination against minorities. The consequence is that people who should be helping to build South Africa are emigrating to other countries. Around 20% of Afrikaners already live permanently or temporarily abroad. The loss of businesses closing down, farms no longer being farmed, investments leaving the country, skills being lost, and especially people with a love for South Africa turning their backs on the country is enormous and poses many risks for South Africa.
The Solidarity Movement is the largest civil society group of organisations in South Africa, representing mainly, but not exclusively, Afrikaner families across South Africa. The Movement is committed to working with other communities in South Africa and is already working in cooperation with many other ethnic groups in the development of projects in agriculture, education and training, security and economic development.
Ultimately, the future of South Africa will be determined by the people of South Africa, but better governance, an informed international community, and sympathetic individuals and organisations can all contribute to crafting a new, better roadmap for the South Africa of the future. This process must be accelerated in 2025. If this does not happen, the risks for South Africa will simply be too great.
In 2023, approximately 32 000 people attended service on the Day of the Vow held at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. 186 years after the historical events of 16 December 1838, this day is still observed by thousands of Afrikaners around the world.
On numerous occasions in the past, it has been assumed that observation of this day would end. However, it seems that the number of people attending these services continue to grow.
What is the Day of the Vow? Why is it still widely observed across the world, even after centuries, and why do Afrikaners seem to be morally so committed to observing it? This article attempts to answer these questions and to provide the historical context for this day.
Historical context
The Bloukrans Massacre
During the Great Trek in 1838 the Voortrekkers, having left the Cape Colony, were looking for land to farm again and to govern themselves independently from the British government in the Cape Colony. The Great Trek leader, Piet Retief, wanted a tract of land in the then Natal, strategically near a harbour, to facilitate trade. The land he had in mind belonged to the Zulu King, Dingane.
Retief advised his people to stay on the plateau of the Drakensberg Mountains, while he and a delegation of his men set out on horseback to the Zulu capital uMgungundlovu to negotiate with Dingane about the transfer of the land. King Dingane’s condition for the transaction was simple enough: Retief and his party had to recapture some of Dingane’s cattle taken by a rival chief. Upon returning the cattle the land would be transferred to the Trekkers.
Retief and his men returned the king’s cattle as promised, and Retief and King Dingane subsequently signed a treaty. Word reached the Voortrekkers on the plateau that the land had been transferred and they started to make their way down the mountain to the land they had hoped to occupy.
However, before Retief and his men could leave uMgungundlovu, Dingane asked if his warriors could dance for them. Naively, Retief agreed, but unbeknown to him the Zulu warriors performed a war dance inciting the warriors to kill Retief and his men once the dancing stopped.
On Dingane’s command, Retief and his men were taken to a nearby hill where they were brutally killed by the Zulu warriors. Retief came to his fate last, having to watch all of his men, including his son, being tortured to death.
After these brutal murders, Dingane gave the command to his warriors to attack and kill the rest of the Voortrekkers who were still camping in their wagon lager, waiting for Retief’s return, oblivious to what had happened. The Zulu warriors attacked in the early morning hours of 18 February 1838, slaying hundreds of innocent women and children. In one night, 185 children were killed. To date, this is the most children to have died in one night in the history of South Africa. This attack is known as the Massacre of Bloukrans.
Preparations for a penal expedition
Retief’s people were devastated by the killing of almost half of them. With help arriving for the stranded survivors the men decided to undertake a penal expedition to avenge the lost lives of their loved ones in December 1838. The women and children were left behind at a safe location.
The expedition was led by Commandant Andries Pretorius. While scouting the area for an appropriate battleground, the Voortrekker men circled their wagons in a lager at night. This way, they could be protected from all angles. Sarel Cilliers, a religious leader, who travelled with the men, realised the risk and the small chance of victory over the mighty Zulu impis. Led by Cilliers, the men took a vow to God: If victory in this battle could be theirs, they would henceforth celebrate the day as a sabbath, build a church, and teach future generations to keep commemorating the victory in remembrance:
We stand here before the Holy God of heaven and earth, to make a vow to Him that, if He will protect us and give our enemy into our hand, we shall keep this day and date every year as a day of thanksgiving like a sabbath, and that we shall build a house to His honour wherever it should please Him, and that we will also tell our children that they should share in that with us in memory for future generations. For the honour of His name will be glorified by giving Him the fame and honour for the victory.
From 13 December Cilliers affirmed the vow along with the Voortrekker men during their evening prayers and in worship at dawn. It was important for Cilliers that all the men understood the solemnity and consequences of the Vow. Therefore, those who did not want to participate were given the option to not participate.
The Battle of Blood River
On the evening of 15 December, the Voortrekker men sensed the Zulu warriors were approaching. They could hear their footsteps and smell their bodies covered in oil (a Zulu war tradition) from afar. It was a misty night and the men’s concerns grew that their gunpowder would be too damp to fire, should the attack come during the night.
The Zulu did not attack during the night of 15 December. At sunrise on the morning of the 16th, the Zulu and Voortrekker men were equally surprised to find that they were only a few hundred feet away from each other. The mist had protected the lager from sight. The Voortrekker men also realised that they were only 400 against 16 000 Zulu impis.
The Voortrekker men’s prayers were answered as they engaged in the battle and prevailed Many factors contributed to the victory. Some of the Zulu impis tried to cross the river to escape but drowned in the process, or were shot by the Voortrekker men. Lore has it that the river’s water had turned red from the blood of the Zulu impis – hence the name Blood River.
The significance of this day
Afrikaners look back on the victory on this day with gratitude and in awe of the miracles God had performed to save their ancestors. As part of the religious service on the Day of the Vow we recall the miracles and praise God for his saving grace.
Historians often approach these claims of a miracle with scepticism, attributing the outcome to superior strategy, weaponry and defensive tactics. However, for many Afrikaners, the events remain a potent symbol of faith and resilience.
The weather and geographical location
KwaZulu-Natal is known for its wet Decembers. It had been raining for a week and the rivers were swollen and difficult to cross. When Pretorius and his men crossed the Ncome River they found the perfect location for battle. To the south, the strong-flowing river with its deep hippo pool; to the west, a deep donga, also filled with muddy water – with the Zulu impi approaching from the north, it created natural defence barriers that hindered the Zulu forces.
Commandant Andries Pretorius said: “God himself chose the location.”
Dry gunpowder and the sun rising in a cloudless sky on the morning of 16 December
If it had rained, and it was a damp and cloudy day, they would not have been able to use the gunpowder.
The lager was covered in mist on the night of 15 December
Commandant Pretorius was afraid of a night attack, so he commanded his men to hang lanterns out on sticks outside their wagons. When the lager was covered in mist, the superstitious Zulu only saw strange lights floating in the air and decided to wait until the morning before they made a move.
The horses and cattle remained calm
Hundreds of horses and cattle were kept inside the lager. During the night of 15 December not a sound came from the animals that would have given away the location. In the midst of the commotion and chaos of the battle, and no one being able to look after the animals during the battle, the animals did not try to break out – not a normal reaction from nervous animals.
There were no deaths among the Voortrekker men and only three men were wounded.
There was no loss of life among the Voortrekker men, nor were there serious or life-threatening injuries. Only three men out of the 400 suffered minor wounds.
The weapons did not overheat or explode.
Front loader guns are known to overheat and explode if fired too often in succession. As the Zulu impi kept coming at the men and had to be fended off, there was a concern that the weapons would explode or fail to fire. By God’s grace, the weapons did not overheat and the men could keep firing.
Only one shot from a cannon, Grietjie, positioned 3 kilometres away, made a telling blow.
It is not usual for a cannon to fire accurately over a long distance, but Commandant Pretorius took his chances and loaded the one cannon they had to its maximum and aimed it at the hill from where the Zulu leaders were observing the battle three kilometres away. The shot from the cannon hit King Dingane’s successor. This was a telling blow that startled the Zulu impis greatly.
The mighty Zulu army fled.
A mighty and widely feared army, one trained by the famous King Shaka himself, halted and took flight. The king did not tolerate cowards. It was a known fact that if a Zulu warrior surrendered in battle, he would die by the spear of one of his own. But during the Battle of Blood River, experienced Zulu impis turned around as one and fled. King Dingane also fled and razed uMgungundlovu to the ground when he learnt of his army’s defeat.
The Voortrekkers knew that had it not been for the hand of God that day, they would have lost the battle, and that they would have faced the same fate as their fellow Voortrekkers at Bloukrans. Since then, 16 December is observed as a day of thanksgiving and worship.
The Day of the Vow or Reconciliation Day?
After the end of apartheid in 1994, 16 December has remained a public holiday in South Africa, but it was officially renamed to “Reconciliation Day” to encourage reconciliation between all nations and cultures in South Africa. Yet, for many South Africans, it remains the “Day of the Vow,” and it is still observed as such, mainly for religious reasons.
Reconciliation in practice
Two years after the Battle of Blood River, King Dingane was killed by his half-brother, Mpande, who took the throne. The Voortrekker men who fought at the Battle of Blood River attended the new king’s coronation ceremony, attended the new king’s coronation and buried the hatchet, and promised peace between the Zulu and Voortrekkers. Since the Battle of Blood River, there has been no further conflict between the Afrikaner and the Zulu.
The late Zulu Prince, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, used his position as a politician to advocate a good relationship between the Afrikaner and the Zulu nation. After his death in 2023, a memorial service was held in honour of Buthelezi at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. The service was attended by people from both the Afrikaner and Zulu heritage.
In 2016, former president Jacob Zuma built a bridge over the Blood River Heritage Site to the Ncome traditional community’s ground. In 2022, the management of the Blood River Heritage Site donated Zulu Bibles to each child and family of the local school in Ncome .
Each year, hundreds of schools take children from various backgrounds to visit the Voortrekker Monument to learn about the history and relationship between the Afrikaners and other traditional African groups.
Reconciliation is a daily practice for South Africans, and it shows in small gestures and in an overall attitude of living in peace with all cultures.
Day of the Vow
For Afrikaners 16 December is not about celebrating a victory that lies far back in the past, nor is it a matter of reconciliation, – it is about honouring a vow their ancestors had pledged to God.
Many Afrikaners feel they owe the reason for their existence to the fact that God had saved their ancestors at the Battle of Blood River. They also feel bound to the Vow in religious and moral terms.
Church services on the Day of the Vow are held across the country where attendees praise God for the miracles He had performed on that day, and they repeat the Vow to keep observing this day as a sabbath and teach their children to do the same.
In South Africa, the main service on the Day of the Vow is held at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. The Monument was designed in such a way that a ray of sunlight shines through a hole in the roof at exactly 12 pm on 16 December. This is the only day in the year this happens.
Day of the Vow: The sunbeam at 12 pm at the Voortrekker Monument
Worldwide observance
In 2023, estimated statistics showed that roughly 185 000 people across the world attended a service on the Day of the Vow. The Day of the Vow is celebrated in 24 countries across six of the seven continents. Apart from South Africa, this day is also observed in Australia, Botswana, China, Germany, England, Japan, Canada, Luxemburg, Mozambique, Namibia, The Netherlands, Nieu-Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.
The nationality of the participants is not known, but it can be safely assumed that the widespread attendance can be ascribed to Afrikaners who have emigrated to other parts of the world and continue to observe the Day of the Vow with their families in their newly-found communities. This shows a deep commitment to the Vow, even when the individual is thousands of kilometres away from the country of their roots.
Conclusion
When Sarel Cilliers had pledged the Vow, he was concerned that the men would forget the Vow after the battle and that their children would not keep the promise. This was unfounded concern as the victory has profoundly touched those involved in the battle as well as the future generations who still continue to observe this day as a Sabbath.
For Afrikaners, the Day of the Vow is not a celebration of a victory over the Zulus, but it is rather a day to honour their ancestors’ promise to God and to thank Him for saving them in a time of need. If the current trend is to continue, the Day of the Vow will be observed for many years to come across continents.
Die Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) is reeds in 1929 gestig. Vandag is die FAK steeds dié organisasie wat jou toelaat om kreatief te wees in jou taal en kultuur. Die FAK is ’n toekomsgerigte kultuurorganisasie wat ’n tuiste vir die Afrikaanse taal en kultuur bied en die trotse Afrikanergeskiedenis positief bevorder.
Solidariteit Helpende Hand fokus op maatskaplike welstand en dié organisasie se groter visie is om oplossings vir die hantering van Afrikanerarmoede te vind.
Solidariteit Helpende Hand se roeping is om armoede deur middel van gemeenskapsontwikkeling op te los. Solidariteit Helpende Hand glo dat mense ʼn verantwoordelikheid teenoor mekaar en teenoor die gemeenskap het.
Solidariteit Helpende Hand is geskoei op die idees van die Afrikaner-Helpmekaarbeweging van 1949 met ʼn besondere fokus op “help”, “saam” en “ons.”
AfriForumTV is ʼn digitale platform wat aanlyn en gratis is en visuele inhoud aan lede en nielede bied. Intekenaars kan verskeie kanale in die gemak van hul eie huis op hul televisiestel, rekenaar of selfoon verken deur van die AfriForumTV-app gebruik te maak. AfriForumTV is nóg ʼn kommunikasiestrategie om die publiek bewus te maak van AfriForum se nuus en gebeure, maar ook om vermaak deur films en fiksie- en realiteitsreekse te bied. Hierdie inhoud gaan verskaf word deur AfriForumTV self, instellings binne die Solidariteit Beweging en eksterne inhoudverskaffers.
AfriForum Uitgewers (voorheen bekend as Kraal Uitgewers) is die trotse uitgewershuis van die Solidariteit Beweging en is die tuiste van Afrikaanse niefiksie-, Afrikanergeskiedenis- én prima Afrikaanse produkte. Dié uitgewer het onlangs sy fokus verskuif en gaan voortaan slegs interne publikasies van die Solidariteit Beweging publiseer.
AfriForum Jeug is die amptelike jeugafdeling van AfriForum, die burgerregte-inisiatief wat deel van die Solidariteit Beweging vorm. AfriForum Jeug berus op Christelike beginsels en ons doel is om selfstandigheid onder jong Afrikaners te bevorder en die realiteite in Suid-Afrika te beïnvloed deur veldtogte aan te pak en aktief vir jongmense se burgerregte standpunt in te neem.
De Goede Hoop is ʼn moderne, privaat Afrikaanse studentekoshuis met hoë standaarde. Dit is in Pretoria geleë.
De Goede Hoop bied ʼn tuiste vir dinamiese studente met Christelike waardes en ʼn passie vir Afrikaans; ʼn tuiste waar jy as jongmens in gesonde studentetradisies kan deel en jou studentwees met selfvertroue in Afrikaans kan uitleef.
DIE HELPENDE HAND STUDIETRUST (HHST) is ʼn inisiatief van Solidariteit Helpende Hand en is ʼn geregistreerde openbare weldaadsorganisasie wat behoeftige Afrikaanse studente se studie moontlik maak deur middel van rentevrye studielenings.
Die HHST administreer tans meer as 200 onafhanklike studiefondse namens verskeie donateurs en het reeds meer as 6 300 behoeftige studente se studie moontlik gemaak met ʼn totaal van R238 miljoen se studiehulp wat verleen is.
Solidariteit se sentrum vir voortgesette leer is ʼn opleidingsinstelling wat voortgesette professionele ontwikkeling vir professionele persone aanbied. S-leer het ten doel om werkendes met die bereiking van hul loopbaandoelwitte by te staan deur die aanbieding van seminare, kortkursusse, gespreksgeleenthede en e-leer waarin relevante temas aangebied en bespreek word.
Solidariteit Jeug berei jongmense voor vir die arbeidsmark, staan op vir hul belange en skakel hulle in by die Netwerk van Werk. Solidariteit Jeug is ʼn instrument om jongmense te help met loopbaankeuses en is ʼn tuiskomplek vir jongmense.
Solidariteit Regsfonds
ʼn Fonds om die onregmatige toepassing van regstellende aksie teen te staan.
Solidariteit Boufonds
ʼn Fonds wat spesifiek ten doel het om Solidariteit se opleidingsinstellings te bou.
SFD is ʼn gemagtigde finansiëledienstemaatskappy wat deel is van die Solidariteit Beweging. Die instelling se visie is om die toekomstige finansiële welstand, finansiële sekerheid en volhoubaarheid van Afrikaanse individue en ondernemings te bevorder. SFD doen dit deur middel van mededingende finansiële dienste en produkte, in Afrikaans en met uitnemende diens vir ʼn groter doel aan te bied.
Die Gemeenskapstrukture-afdeling bestaan tans uit twee mediese ondersteuningsprojekte en drie gemeenskapsentrums, naamlik Ons Plek in die Strand, Derdepoort en Volksrust. Die drie gemeenskapsentrums is gestig om veilige kleuter- en/of naskoolversorging in die onderskeie gemeenskappe beskikbaar te stel. Tans akkommodeer die gemeenskapsentrums altesaam 158 kinders in die onderskeie naskoolsentrums, terwyl Ons Plek in die Strand 9 kleuters en Ons Plek in Volksrust 16 kleuters in die kleuterskool het.
Die Solidariteit Skoleondersteuningsentrum (SOS) se visie is om die toekoms van Christelike, Afrikaanse onderwys te (help) verseker deur gehalte onderrig wat reeds bestaan in stand te (help) hou, én waar nodig nuut te (help) bou.
Die SOS se doel is om elke skool in ons land waar onderrig in Afrikaans aangebied word, by te staan om in die toekoms steeds onderrig van wêreldgehalte te bly bied en wat tred hou met die nuutste navorsing en internasionale beste praktyke.
Sol-Tech is ʼn geakkrediteerde, privaat beroepsopleidingskollege wat op Christelike waardes gefundeer is en Afrikaans as onderrigmedium gebruik.
Sol-Tech fokus op beroepsopleiding wat tot die verwerwing van nasionaal erkende, bruikbare kwalifikasies lei. Sol-Tech het dus ten doel om jongmense se toekomsdrome met betrekking tot loopbaanontwikkeling deur doelspesifieke opleiding te verwesenlik.
Akademia is ’n Christelike hoëronderwysinstelling wat op ’n oop, onbevange en kritiese wyse ’n leidinggewende rol binne die hedendaagse universiteitswese speel.
Akademia streef daarna om ʼn akademiese tuiste te bied waar sowel die denke as die hart gevorm word met die oog op ʼn betekenisvolle en vrye toekoms.
AfriForum Uitgewers (previously known as Kraal Uitgewers) is the proud publishing house of the Solidarity Movement and is the home of Afrikaans non-fiction, products related to the Afrikaner’s history, as well as other prime Afrikaans products. The publisher recently shifted its focus and will only publish internal publications of the Solidarity Movement from now on.
Maroela Media is ʼn Afrikaanse internetkuierplek waar jy alles kan lees oor dit wat in jou wêreld saak maak – of jy nou in Suid-Afrika bly of iewers anders woon en deel van die Afrikaanse Maroela-gemeenskap wil wees. Maroela Media se Christelike karakter vorm die kern van sy redaksionele beleid.
Kanton Beleggingsmaatskappy
Kanton is ʼn beleggingsmaatskappy vir eiendom wat deur die Solidariteit Beweging gestig is. Die eiendomme van die Solidariteit Beweging dien as basis van die portefeulje wat verder deur ontwikkeling uitgebrei sal word.
Kanton is ʼn vennootskap tussen kultuur en kapitaal en fokus daarop om volhoubare eiendomsoplossings aan instellings in die Afrikaanse gemeenskap teen ʼn goeie opbrengs te voorsien sodat hulle hul doelwitte kan bereik.
Wolkskool is ʼn produk van die Skoleondersteuningsentrum (SOS), ʼn niewinsgewende organisasie met ʼn span onderwyskundiges wat ten doel het om gehalte- Afrikaanse onderrig te help verseker. Wolkskool bied ʼn platform waar leerders 24-uur toegang tot video-lesse, vraestelle, werkkaarte met memorandums en aanlyn assessering kan kry.
Die Begrond Instituut is ʼn Christelike navorsingsinstituut wat die Afrikaanse taal en kultuur gemeenskap bystaan om Bybelse antwoorde op belangrike lewensvrae te kry.
Ons Winkels is Solidariteit Helpende Hand se skenkingswinkels. Daar is bykans 120 winkels landwyd waar lede van die publiek skenkings van tweedehandse goedere – meubels, kombuisware, linne en klere – kan maak. Die winkels ontvang die skenkings en verkoop goeie kwaliteit items teen bekostigbare pryse aan die publiek.
AfriForum is ʼn burgerregte-organisasie wat Afrikaners, Afrikaanssprekende mense en ander minderheidsgroepe in Suid-Afrika mobiliseer en hul regte beskerm.
AfriForum is ʼn nieregeringsorganisasie wat as ʼn niewinsgewende onderneming geregistreer is met die doel om minderhede se regte te beskerm. Terwyl die organisasie volgens die internasionaal erkende beginsel van minderheidsbeskerming funksioneer, fokus AfriForum spesifiek op die regte van Afrikaners as ʼn gemeenskap wat aan die suidpunt van die vasteland woon. Lidmaatskap is nie eksklusief nie en enige persoon wat hom of haar met die inhoud van die organisasies se Burgerregte-manifes vereenselwig, kan by AfriForum aansluit.
