Thursday, 27 February 2025

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are disgusted by the attempt of the right-wing groups AfriForum and Solidarity Movement to mobilise, through memorandums to the United States of America’s (US) government to interfere in the domestic affairs of the country. In what should be viewed as treasonous acts by both AfriForum and Solidarity Movement, they are seeking aid from the US to fund the Afrikaner minority for security and training structures meant for their exclusive benefits, to perpetuate their narrow political interests, and for their inherent beliefs to be viewed as a privileged group.

In essence, AfriForum and Solidarity Movement are asking Trump to help them partition South Africa. 140 years after the Berlin Conference, these racist right-wing organisations are asking a major Western power to help them partition South Africa and create a whites-only enclave at the southern tip of Africa.

We are not surprised that these right-wing movements have rejected the offer to be refugees in the US and instead opted to keep the white minority privileges they enjoy in South Africa, and keep their vast hectares of land and farms that they own at the exclusion of the black majority. Economically speaking, these racist organisations will never leave South Africa as they know that it is their haven, where they can exploit Africans for cheap disposable labour while enjoying the fruits of the land they acquired through violent dispossession.

Furthermore, these organisations seek to circumvent the implementation of the BELA Act, NHI, and the Expropriation Bill by seeking a foreign state to meddle in the affairs of South Africa by putting pressure on the government to repeal these Acts. If these demands were to be carried out by the government, it would mean the loss of our sovereignty as a state.

Additionally, the request for funding of Afrikaner security structures means that they want resources for the military training of self-defence units and commandos to launch a coup against a democratic state to enforce whites-only homelands and secession from the Republic. The US is known to fund and arm anti-government rebels such as UNITA which waged a decades-long civil war against the Angolan government, serving as a tool for Western imperialist interests in the region; RENAMO which was similarly supported to destabilise the Mozambican government and prevent socialist progress in the region; as well as various Islamic militant groups in Afghanistan and other countries.

Furthermore, it was the US that trained and funded Osama bin Laden and other various groups that launched regime change in Libya, Syria, and Cuba. The fingerprints of the US’s destabilisation tactics are evident across the world, and their support for Afrikaner right-wing extremists would follow the same pattern. This is treasonous and should have our government’s full attention.

South Africa is a democratic country that follows due process in making and passing laws, with members of the public being consulted before any laws are enacted. For AfriForum to call for a foreign country to apply pressure in order to change certain laws is anti-democratic and interferes with the long-established international principles of non-interference in domestic affairs of sovereign nations.

It comes as no surprise that these right-wing organisations are not concerned about the cutting off of funding for PEPFAR, which helps to fight HIV/AIDS. They are not concerned about it because, in their minds, HIV/AIDS affect black people in the majority. Instead, they are fighting to keep AGOA, as that is their direct business interest that mainly benefits whites who own and control the means of production in our country.

For Trump to continue making ill-informed decisions exposes the narrow political views that he holds as an individual and his complete disregard for diplomatic relations between the US and South Africa, by failing to engage his counterparts. His administration’s willingness to entertain the treasonous demands of AfriForum and Solidarity speaks volumes about their shared reactionary and racist agenda.

We, therefore, call on the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU) to designate AfriForum and Solidarity Movement as domestic terrorist organisations actively working against the interests of the republic by spreading lies and misinformation across borders. Their actions are a direct threat to the stability and sovereignty of South Africa, and they must be treated as such.

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Leigh-Ann Mathys (National Spokesperson) 082 304 7572

Thato Lebyane (Media Enquiries) 078 304 7572