Freedom Front Plus invites Minister of Justice and CD to learn more about Afrikaner self-determination after lashing out

Image: Freedom Front Plus

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) strongly condemns the recent statements by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, regarding Afrikaner self-determination, and would like to enlighten her.

In response to a written question from EFF MP Mr Carl Niehaus, she took the unprecedented step of attempting to strip section 235 of the South African Constitution of its meaning. In doing so, the Minister also took another step toward unilaterally breaching the 1994 agreement – something the Freedom Front Plus wishes to discuss with her.

Niehaus’s question was essentially a call to ban certain conduct in addition to making it punishable by imprisonment. He asked whether "in light of the continuing racially motivated crimes committed by white supremacists against black South Africans," the Minister would outlaw "the use of cultural self-determination to maintain racially exclusive enclaves." He also enquired which steps would be taken to “criminalise all forms and expressions of white supremacist racism” and ensure that offenders are imprisoned.

While the Freedom Front Plus has grown accustomed to this kind of rhetoric from the EFF and Niehaus, the party expected a more balanced response from the Minister – not based on her character, but the office she holds. Kubayi, however, tried to outdo Niehaus: She made the unsubstantiated claim that it is mainly white people who are racist in their conduct towards black people.

She took care to explain how the Constitution, legislation and being signatories of international treaties prohibit discrimination in any form, citing the prosecution of Penny Sparrow and Julius Malema to show that the South African government prosecutes all racism.

Kubayi then argued that white South Africans (including Afrikaners) do not fall within the commonly agreed-to definition of the right to self-determination, due to their history as oppressors. Orania, according to her, confirms this view by using cultural self-determination as a cover "to perpetuate their sense of superiority and exclusivity", even though Afrikaners generally "live freely and are under no threat" in South Africa.  

The Minister concluded that Orania’s claim to self-determination is legally inaccurate, perpetuates racial segregation, and reinforces social fragmentation and inequality.

She argued, furthermore, that section 235 does not grant any community the right to territorially self-exclude from the entire nation for the purpose of maintaining racially exclusive enclaves. Doing so would, in her view, reinstate the Group Areas Act of 1950.

In her reasoning, she ignores the fact that article 235 was included in the 1996 South African Constitution precisely because of Afrikaners’ concern that their identity and economic opportunities in the democratic dispensation could be subject to a “tyranny of the majority”.

In addition, she disregards talks with government that prompted former President Thabo Mbeki and her own predecessor, Mr Valli Moosa, to state that the realisation of Afrikaner self-determination depends solely on Afrikaners themselves.   

The Freedom Front Plus, therefore, invites the Minister to a serious discussion of the theory of self-determination, its South African background and the reality as embodied in Orania.

It is wrong to argue that victim communities are the only ones entitled to self-determination. The reality is that all communities are entitled to it, but powerful communities or nations do not need to claim it – they already possess it. Should they lose that position of power, the tables are turned, and the pursuit of self-determination becomes as important to them as any other community.

Another mistake is to label Afrikaners pursuing self-determination as racists and proponents of white superiority per se. Orania essentially strives to radically break away from the colonial economic pattern of cheap labour and job division based on race. So, all work in Orania is done by Afrikaners themselves.

The Freedom Front Plus sent a letter to the Minister, informing her of the party’s view on her response and inviting her to engage in a dialogue on the matter.

For now, the Minister could plead ignorance, but the Freedom Front Plus feels compelled to personally enlighten her regarding the reality of Afrikaner self-determination.