'Your actions makes Afrikaners feel excluded': AfriForum hits back at Ramaphosa over coward remarks

Lobby group AfriForum has slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa for labelling a group of 49 White Afrikaners who recently resettled in the United States as “cowards saying they will be back soon,” as an insult.

Ramaphosa made the remarks while speaking to the media on Tuesday at the annual Nampo Harvest Festival near Bothaville in the Free State.

He criticised the Afrikaners who had moved to the US as “refugees,” calling their decision a “cowardly act” and suggesting they were unhappy with South Africa’s efforts to redress past apartheid injustices.

“I think it’s a sad moment for them. They may be feeling excited that they left the country, that they’ve got somebody like President (Donald) Trump,” Ramaphosa said.

“But in the end, it’s a group of South Africans demonstrating that the changes and transformation we are embarking on here, they’re not favourably disposed to.

“That’s why they are running away. As South Africans, we are resilient. We don’t run away from our problems,” he added. 

IOL reported previously that the Trump administration has welcomed the 49 Afrikaners who landed in the US on Monday at Dulles Airport outside Washington after they were granted asylum status following claims that they faced discrimination and violence in South Africa.

“And if you look at all national groups in our country, black and white, they’ve stayed in this country because it’s our country. We must not run away from our problems. We must stay here and solve them. When you run away, you are a coward, and that’s a real cowardly act.”

Meanwhile, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel condemned the president’s remarks on White Afrikaners, calling them insults.

“Instead of insulting those who choose to leave the country, President Ramaphosa should rather take responsibility for his own complicity in the fact that there are Afrikaners who want to emigrate,” Kriel wrote on Wednesday on  X.

Kriel cited several reasons he believes have led to the alienation of Afrikaners, including what he described as Ramaphosa’s failure to condemn calls for violence.

“Ramaphosa alienates many Afrikaners through, among other things, his continued refusal to condemn calls for violence against Afrikaners, such as “Kill the Boer,” as well as through his signing of the anti-Afrikaans BELA Act and the Expropriation Act.”

AfriForum has long opposed the “Kill the boer” chant by Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, but the Constitutional Court dismissed its bid to ban the chant, ruling the case had no reasonable prospect of success.

Kriel also criticised the signing of the controversial Acts, which AfriForum claims are discriminatory against Afrikaners.

“It is also his (referring to Ramaphosa) government’s discriminatory racial legislation and draconian race-based regulations that directly contribute to the alienation of minority communities.”

However, he added that AfriForum remains committed to securing a future for Afrikaners and other minorities in South Africa.

He said Afriforum respects the right of individuals to leave the country, but remains committed to fighting vigorously against the injustices being committed against Afrikaners and minorities in general, so that there can also be a future for Afrikaners and other minorities here at the southern tip of Africa.

"AfriForum, along with most Afrikaners, is here to stay. We know no other home but Africa.”

On Tuesday, IOL News reported that Kriel, saaid the Afrikaners who have elected to take up United States President Donald Trump’s offer to become refugees have had genuine concerns in South Africa.

Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Kriel said the concerns raised by the Afrikaners in South Africa are legitimate. He however said AfriForum does not define the situation as “white genocide” as used some politicians in the United States.

“The fact is, we don’t use those terms, but there is a real problem. We have a situation in the country where the only category of crime that is called for, publicly, for instance murders of farmers and Afrikaners with the ‘kill the boer’ chant. 

“We know that these people that have left the country have a legitimate concern, that is, the South African Constitutional Court did not protect the Afrikaners against this. We have the president (Cyril Ramaphosa) not condemning these kinds of chants,” said Kriel.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

IOL Politics