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.
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.
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.
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.
Solidarity is warning the South African government about the serious consequences of its ongoing campaign against Israel in which it is using taxpayers’ money to advance a case in the International Court of Justice.
According to reports, Pres. Ramaphosa can now sign a special Appropriations Bill into law after it has been approved by the National Council of Provinces. This Bill makes it possible to allocate more than R95 million to the court case in which South Africa is taking Israel on over the war in Gaza.
According to Theuns du Buisson, economic researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), this costly campaign can still cost South Africans dearly if SA forfeits its participation in the agreement under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of the US because of the court case against Israel.
“This R95 million spent on legal costs is just a drop in the ocean compared to what we stand to lose if South Africa were kicked out of AGOA, or even if our relations with Western countries were to deteriorate further.
“The ANC’s continued efforts to align South Africa with enemies of the US are damaging our reputation as an investment destination at a time when we can ill afford it,” Du Buisson said.
He emphasised how US interests will be prioritised when the administration changes in January when it will fall under the leadership of president-elect Donald Trump.
“When the US gets a new government, it is likely that there will be no more mercy for the ANC’s shenanigans. If Trump does indeed impose a general tariff on all imports to the USA from countries such China and Mexico, we cannot afford to be kicked out of AGOA.
“If AGOA exempts our exports from the general tariff, it will give us a major competitive advantage, and this is something South Africa simply cannot relinquish,” Du Buisson said.
In November Solidarity called on president-elect Trump to allow South Africa’s participation in AGOA to continue, as approximately 20% of South African households are directly dependent on exports to the US.
Approximately 30 000 of Solidarity’s members also work in industries that benefit from tariff-free exports to the US, as made possible by AGOA.
Du Buisson says that if ever the South African government should now tread ligthly with managing its relations.
“Yet, it is as if the ANC is making taxpayers pay more so that they can further impoverish themselves. Moreover, his case against Israel does not enjoy significant support. We simply cannot afford to stand by and watch how ordinary South Africans become impoverished for the sake of the ANC’s moral agenda.
“We should indeed seek rapprochement with the US and other countries that will put South Africa on the winning path economically, and we should abandon these ideological disputes immediately,” Du Buisson said.
South Africa has become an insightful case study for especially two reasons. First, it is a prime example of prolonged, consistent government failure and capacity deterioration. Second, it is an example of how order and stability can emerge out of this chaos, through communities who organise themselves. In his articleThe disintegration of the South African order, Prof. Koos Malan writes that the future of South Africa is a “desert of disorder” containing “oases of order”.
Almost every government service (except tax collection) is in a state of decay – and has been for decades. Examples include rolling blackouts due to an ineffective, failing government monopoly, the South African Police Service dropping millions of calls for help over three years, rampant corruption, and an ever-increasing unemployment rate of more than 35%. Furthermore, more than 50% of the population is dependent on some form of government welfare grant, and infrastructure in every sector is deteriorating, from water and electricity to sewerage and roads. I discuss these matter in more detail in my 2023 article for The American Conservative.
Building a future from the ground up
One of the cultural communities at the forefront of creating “oases of order” in this context of de-development are the Afrikaners. Through community-based organisations such as AfriForum we are pioneering a new model, which requires a major shift in thinking about solution-building. AfriForum is developing an answer to the question: How should communities react in the face of continued government capacity decay, a growing list of racially discriminatory policies and laws that target you, and a political environment in which you are the target of demonisation and violent rhetoric by high profile politicians? Additionally, AfriForum is confronting the following question: How do you build a future as one of the first people with a fundamentally Western heritage living as a minority in one of the world’s post-Western countries?
AfriForum’s answer, built on a foundation of Christian values and an Afrikaner cultural identity, is the pursuit of becoming state-proof at every level by embracing a do-it-ourselves philosophy that prioritises autonomy and pragmatism. Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, describes this approach as follows: “To ensure a bright, free future for our children, our communities must get organised. We must ensure a devolution of power through taking up as many responsibilities as possible on grassroots level. We will get the future we build.” In 2023 AfriForum released a documentary with English subtitles unpacking its philosophy and model.
AfriForum’s model
AfriForum forms part of the Solidarity Movement, which comprises over 50 institutions and organisations, all working together towards ensuring that Afrikaners have a future in Southern Africa where we can be free, safe and prosperous.
AfriForum is the largest civil rights organisation in the Southern Hemisphere and unites more than 315 000 members behind a common cause. AfriForum has established more than 175 neighbourhood and farm watches, has developed emergency support services and even has a private firefighting unit. AfriForum’s more than 170 branches across the country do everything from cleaning up neighbourhoods and rivers, planting community vegetable gardens and trees, to painting street signs and repairing thousands of potholes. AfriForum has also established AfriForumTV, its own streaming service, film and documentary production company, and has its own arts theatre. AfriForum also manages a number of intercommunity and intercultural cooperation projects.
This all is made possible not through state funding or the goodwill of billionaires, but by thousands of everyday people who donate monthly. If you consider that there is usually only one AfriForum member per household, the 315 000 number can be considered as 315 000 families.
Conclusion
AfriForum and the wider Solidarity Movement have declared that we are building to stay and staying to build. AfriForum does not seek to isolate communities, but rather to help create resilient, healthy communities that cooperate with other communities on the basis of mutual recognition and respect. In the field of community-based, decentralised and state-proof solutions, AfriForum has pioneered the way, and we have only begun. The more members AfriForum gains, the more we can do. Become a member today.
The Solidarity Movement announced on November 29, 2024, that a settlement had been reached with the government at Nedlac regarding BELA. Since then, there have been many reports in the media and statements from the government causing confusion among the public about the BELA agreement, the role of the President, and the NEDLAC. Here is a complete breakdown of Solidarity’s agreement with the government (including the minister and the Presidency).
The Solidarity Movement, with Solidarity and AfriForum counting among its institutions, is involved in a comprehensive process with various role players on the BELA Act.
1. The consultation process, announced by President Ramaphosa on 13 September, was initiated following telephone calls from President Ramaphosa to AfriForum and Solidarity, in light of the fact that these institutions had voiced vehement objections to certain provisions in section 4 and section 5 of the BELA Act.
2. The commencement of the consultation process was not limited to the GNU Clearing House Committee finding a resolution, nor was a fixed format set which all concerned parties had to adhere to.
3. The consultation process was announced as an open process in which AfriForum and Solidarity, as the primary objectors to the BELA Act, were to play a key role.
To this extent, AfriForum and Solidarity reached out to political parties both within and outside the GNU, and in particular to the ANC, as the ANC is the strongest proponent of retaining section 4 and section 5 of the BELA Act.
4. As part of the attempts to highlight the consequences of the BELA Act, Solidarity referred a dispute over BELA to Nedlac in terms of section 77 of the Labour Relations Act for the purposes of obtaining a section 77 certificate, allowing its members to participate in protest action.
The notice to this effect was lodged in October with Solidarity as the applicant, and the President of South Africa and the Minister of Basic Education being cited as the respondents.
According to Nedlac’s rules, Nedlac must attempt to mediate such a dispute.
5. After an extensive process, two agreements were reached.
6. The first framework agreement was concluded between Solidarity, the Presidency and the Ministry of Basic Education. Both the respondents were duly authorised by the Minister of Basic Education and the President, respectively, to undertake the process and find a resolution to the impasse created by section 4 and section 5 of the BELA Act.
7. This agreement outlines the role of the President and that of the Minister in relation to the commencement and implementation of the BELA Act.
The President must proclaim the commencement arrangements for the BELA Act, and the Minister must make recommendations in this regard. The Minister is also responsible for developing national norms and standards, regulations and policy to support the implementation of the Act, where necessary and appropriate.
The agreement does not erode the President’s final responsibility to proclaim the commencement arrangements for the Act, but acknowledges the Minister’s role to make recommendations to the President in this regard.
It must be emphasised that whilst the President’s powers to proclaim an Act or certain provisions of an Act are upheld, he cannot ignore the recommendations from a Cabinet Minister – in this case, the Minister of Basic Education. He needs to apply his mind to them, together with any other recommendations he receives via any other process, and he needs to ensure the commencement arrangements are rational.
The agreement also recognises that national norms and standards, regulations and policy regarding the BELA Act have not been completed.
The agreement affirms that the Office of the President has confirmed that 13 December is not the commencement date for the Act but rather the end of the GNU consultation process.
The agreement stipulates that the Minister will make recommendations to the President in terms of her legal duty.
All three parties have signed the agreement. The signatories on behalf of all three parties were all duly authorised to sign the agreement. All parties are bound to the agreement.
The President mandated his team, and the Minister mandated her team to participatetake part in the process.
8. Within this framework, a second bilateral agreement was signed between Solidarity and the Minister of Basic Education.
9. This agreement stipulates that the Minister would recommend to the President to implement the controversial sections of BELA only once national norms and standards, policies and regulations have been developed to support the implementation of these sections.
This is also, even without the agreement, her legal duty. No process can erode that. This agreement does not override the legal duty of either the President or the Minister, but acknowledges it.
The bilateral agreement describes the recommended national norms and standards, policy and regulations to be developed in more detail. These are aimed at providing greater legal clarity and stronger consultation mechanisms to support the sections in question.
This agreement does not exclude the possibility of future legislative amendments should the need for these arise.
The agreement also emphasises the development of mother tongue education in general.
10. The Nedlac process and the process that is underway within the Government of National Unity (GNU) stand on their own feet, are not mutually exclusive and are even complementary.
However, the GNU process would have great difficulty to reach a different conclusion because the settlement in the Nedlac process was reached within the existing legal framework.
In fact, the settlement only stipulates the logical legal process the President and the Minister are required to follow. The best outcome for the GNU is to acknowledge the roles of the President and the Minister in this matter and to encourage them to do their work.
11. The GNU may have difficulties coming to another political agreement when a clear legal framework and process are in place. The Nedlac settlements are located within that framework.
The solution to the BELA Act dispute clearly lies within the law.
Building resilient institutions in hostile circumstances (Speech at the International Conservatism Summit, Bratislava, 11 November 2024, written by Ernst Roets, head of the Afrikaner Foundation.)
“If you want to know what the future of Western Europe will look like, look at what is happening in South Africa.” This was the introductory remarks to a recent series of articles in the popular Hungarian newspaper Demokrata. The series was about the deterioration of South Africa and the initiatives of the Afrikaner people to ensure a future for ourselves through the variety of institutions that form part of the Solidarity Movement. Demokrata’s conclusion was not a lone voice in the wilderness.
In our international efforts, we have noticed that it is necessary to explain that South Africa should not only be looked at in order to get a glimpse of what the future might hold as far as crises are concerned; potential solutions should also be observed.
When the Iron Curtain fell, it was generally interpreted to signal the collapse of communism and the advent of liberal democracy. Even though South Africa was internationally celebrated as an example of the triumph of liberal democracy, it was, in truth, a victory for left-wing ideology.
This is because the South African Communist Party (SACP), an ally of the African National Congress (ANC), argued at the time that communism had failed because it wasn’t applied properly. Stalinism was not real communism, they said. Communist Party intellectuals in South Africa had the revolutionary idea that for communism to succeed, it would need to promote radical ends through moderate means. The goal was clear – a communist state, dictatorship of the proletariat and complete control over property. The appropriate way to achieve such ends, they argued, was not violent revolution, but to employ liberal democracy as a means of achieving this end.
And so, the strategy was simple – the revolutionary movement had to present itself as freedom loving liberal democrats, to gain international approval, popular support and – most importantly – disarm their political enemies. Through these moderate claims, they were to rise to power in a multi-party democracy under a liberal constitution. This, they argued, was phase one of the revolution. The goal of phase one was to take control of the levers of power.
Once these things were achieved and South Africa was internationally celebrated for adopting the “most liberal” and “most democratic” constitution in history, the ANC and the SACP declared that the liberal democratic dispensation was merely a beach-head – a temporary victory – on the road to revolution.
In 2012, the party announced that it was now ready for the “second transition” as a means of implementing the “second phase of the revolution”. This implied using the levers of power that they now controlled to navigate the country toward more aggressive socialism. What followed was a flood of destructive laws, bills and policy ideas, including:
an attempt to create a media regulation tribunal;
to severely increase the power of the government to declare random pieces of information as “secret” and to criminalize the publication thereof;
implementing a large-scale socialist healthcare system;
eroding the property rights clause in the Constitution to empower the state to confiscate private property without compensation; and
taking control of well-functioning Afrikaans schools to force them to “transform” into dysfunctional English schools.
During all of this, the Afrikaner community that I represent became especially vulnerable because of three factors:
We are a successful minority.
We are a discredited minority.
We are an easily identifiable minority.
And so, the Leviathan that we – the Afrikaners – built during the previous century – was turned against us, and aggressively so. Under the banner of promoting “non-racialism” the ANC government wrote and implemented more than 116 race laws, aimed at excluding and exploiting the white minority in particular. In a dark ironic twist of fate, the party that was celebrated internationally for bringing freedom and equality to South Africa, succeeded in using the “most liberal” and “most democratic” constitution in the world to implement and preside over the most race laws in history. Nowhere in history has there been a country with more race laws than the current South Africa government.
And so, only a madman would argue that the solution for the Afrikaner people under these circumstances is to pray for the political regime to protect us. But it turns out, unfortunately, that mad men (and mad women) are in ample supply.
Instead of waiting for the government, we decided to do it ourselves. We started a movement, the Solidarity Movement – a network that now consists of more than 50 institutions and 700 000 members who make monthly contributions to our work – to take care of our own community.
This is why we say that we believe ourselves to be also ahead of the curve as far as solutions are concerned.
This network of institutions has been described as a state within a state, a parallel state, and as a de facto government for the Afrikaner people. This is because these institutions cover a large variety of spheres necessary for our nation to flourish, fulfilling a variety of responsibilities typically regarded as the role of the government. For the sake of brevity, I will only mention some examples:
Solidarity focusses on employment and workers’ rights, especially with regard to freedom in the workplace.
AfriForum focusses on community organising, and safety and security within these communities.
The Solidarity Helping Hand focusses on support for impoverished communities and the provision of bursaries for underprivileged young people to study.
The Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organisations is a network of cultural organisations aimed at protecting and promoting the Afrikaans language and Afrikaner culture.
The Support Centre for Schools works to support Afrikaans schools and combat destructive policy ideas with regard to education.
Akademia is a private institution of higher learning where Afrikaans students can do tertiary studies from a classical Christian perspective in their own language.
Sol-Tech is a technical college providing artisan training for young Afrikaans-speaking people.
Maroela Media is the largest online Afrikaans news website.
The Orania Development Company is actively involved with infrastructure development to accelerate the growth of the Afrikaner cultural community known as Orania. The aim is to develop Orania from a town currently inhabited by several thousand people into a fully-fledged Afrikaner city.
The Afrikaner Foundation – that I represent – works to promote international cooperation and reclaim our rightful place in the international community, by actively contributing to the preservation of Western civilization from our unique experience and perspective.
Every nation is unique. It would be irresponsible to attempt to merely copy solutions that have worked in one place and apply them to another. Having said this, there are some universal truths, based on which we can reach some conclusions. These truths can be discovered from a combination of common sense and experience.
And two important common-sense conclusions are firstly that more state control to fix societal issues is almost always a bad idea, and secondly, that more community involvement is almost always a good idea.
People are quick to conclude that many of the problems of the West are the result of government overreach – and rightly so. However, this ought to be only one part of the two-sided conclusion. This is because government overreach is a result of (and a contributing factor to) the withdrawal of communities and the erosion of community life. Under the banner of statist individualism, our moral frame of reference is no longer defined by our responsibilities toward our communities, but by the individual rights with which we demand protection by the state. This creates a vicious circle: demanding more protection by the state, from the state, necessarily implies strengthening the state, and strengthening the state usually leads to more demands for protection… by the state.
South Africa is ahead of the curve because we can see the consequences of the strange combination of government overreach and government incompetence in a very tangible way. But also, we believe that the Afrikaner people are ahead of the curve in a very important way because we are actively working on returning to one of the most important truths on which Western civilization was built – the building and strengthening of institutions that are not dependent on the state to flourish, but on the community.
In doing this, we are not – as some on the Left would argue – on the side of oppression, exclusion, bigotry or hate. We are on the side of love. Love for God, love for tradition, love for culture, love for community, love for our families, and love for the hard work that we are doing with our God-given talents to carry the treasures that we have inherited from those who were here before us safely through the crowd.
Ernst Roets is the head of the Afrikaner Foundation in South Africa
The Afrikaner Foundation works to promote international cooperation with and support for the Afrikaner people, for the Afrikaner people to take up their rightful place in the international community once again, and to contribute with a particular focus on the preservation of the Western tradition.
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.
