‘AfriForum went to Washington to gossip about SA’

AfriForum and trade union Solidarity went to the United States to “gossip about their own country”, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor Dr Sydney Mufamadi says.

The Afrikaner lobby groups met with officials from President Donald Trump’s administration to request they put pressure on the South African government and to ask for humanitarian assistance for Afrikaner development.

High treason

Their visit has raised eyebrows, with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks, confirming that it is investigating four case dockets of high treason linked to claims of a white genocide against farmers in the country.

While Hawks boss General Godfrey Lebeya did not disclose the names of the organisations being investigated, it is believed they include Solidarity and AfriForum.

This follows uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party laying criminal charges of treason against AfriForum, accusing the lobby group of economic sabotage.

ALSO READ: Trump offers white South African farmers expedited US citizenship

‘Gossiping’

Asked if South Africa’s democratisation and nation building project is being put “at risk” by AfriForum and Solidarity’s visits to Washington, Mufamadi said the organisations did not go to the US for “shopping”.

“It depends on what they are going to do in Washington. What, clearly, they are not going to do in Washington is shopping.

“They are going to Washinton to gossip about their own country in a manner that makes the majority of our people feel betrayed.

“That is clearly divisive and, with our history, it threatens to resuscitate the hostilities of the past.

“If this is not stopped you can imagine what then happens to the nation-building and democracy building project. That project gets derailed,” Mufamadi said.

‘Apartheid’

Last week, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe claimed that AfriForum wanted apartheid to return in South Africa.

“AfriForum is an anti-transformation programme, driven by the hope that apartheid will come back. It’s a mirage, and that mirage must be confronted by all South Africans, irrespective of colour, because it is going to hurt the country before we recover.

“It is not an attack on the ANC or Ramaphosa as they announced; it is an attack on the country, and everybody must be concerned; we must mobilise our people to confront the right-wing mobilisation that is emerging in the country,” Manstashe said.  

ALSO READ: WATCH: AfriForum ‘not having sleepless nights’ over allegations of high treason

‘Not intimidated’

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel told The Citizen they “won’t be intimidated or silenced” by Mantashe’s comments that the lobby group is driven by the hope that apartheid will come back.

“Mr Mantashe’s statements are ludicrous in an effort to divert attention from the real issues. This strategy does not work on us,” Kriel said.

“Mr Mantashe should answer why the ANC leadership that he is part of implements irresponsible policies that are to the detriment to the people of South Africa, such as the Expropriation Act, and they also disrespect minorities and specifically Afrikaners with regard to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act that targets South African schools and our cultural existence.

“Those are the answers that Mr Mantashe should give, and we will simply go on with what we believe is right for the interests of all the people in South Africa. Also, including Afrikaners, we won’t be intimidated or silenced by these kinds of statements by the minister,“ Kriel said.

US citizenship

Last week, Trump offered an expedited pathway to US citizenship for white South Africans, falsely claiming that the government was confiscating their land and calling their treatment in the country “terrible”.

According to Trump, “any farmer” who is “seeking to flee” South Africa “for reasons of safety” can now apply to become a US sokonnect – rather than a refugee.

ALSO READ: AfriForum, Solidarity meet with top Trump officials [VIDEO]