FRESH calls have been made for the immediate arrest and prosecution of right wing Afrikaner groups AfriForum and Solidarity Movement following their trip to the US this week.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has already opened a case of treason against AfriForum, and are demanding that action be taken against the civic organisation.
AfriForum and the Solidarity movement sent a delegation to the White House in Washington to hand a memorandum to US government representatives where they highlighted their grievances.
Trump signed an executive order last month which stated that the US would promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.
“The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take appropriate steps, consistent with law, to prioritise humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.
“Such a plan shall be submitted to the president through the assistant to the president and Homeland Security advisor,” read the order.
The MK Party opened a case of treason against AfriForum three weeks ago, accusing the lobby group of peddling false information about South Africa’s transformation and expropriation policies.
The party alleged that AfriForum engaged with the Trump administration in the US in a bid to push for punitive economic measures against South Africa.
Brigadier Thandi Mbambo, head of communication for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Hawks, confirmed that the office that deals with Crimes Against the State were investigating a case of high treason.
"The details and developments are still at its infancy stage and not yet ripe for public consumption," said Mbambo.
Colonel Andrè Traut, Western Cape police spokesperson, said a case of high treason was registered at Cape Town Central police station on Monday, 10 February, after a complainant reported an incident.
The matter was later transferred to the Hawks for investigation.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune yesterday, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, the MK Party's national spokesperson said AfriForum and Solidarity have become emboldened under the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU).
"The GNU in reality is nothing more than a front for the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA, a party of white privilege and capitalist interests, effectively runs this government, while Ramaphosa and his ANC serve as mere puppets - making hollow, quasi-revolutionary statements in a desperate bid to stay relevant, yet utterly powerless in the face of real challenges.
"AfriForum and Solidarity would never have dared to attempt such a blatant act of treason during the presidency of Jacob Zuma because they knew that under his leadership, South Africa’s sovereignty was not up for negotiation and they would have been swiftly dealt with in accordance with the law," said Ndhlela.
He said they received news on Thursday that the case of treason was now being investigated nationally by the Hawks.
Ndhlela said the MK Party would not stand by idly while right-wing parties actively work to destabilise South Africa, attempting to reduce the nation to a mere pawn of imperialist forces by lobbying a foreign government to exert economic and political pressure on their country.
Jaco Kleynhans, head of international liaison at the Solidarity Movement, said charging them with treason would be outrageous.
"We are stepping in for South Africa. We are in the USA to ask the Trump administration not to punish South Africa for the irresponsible and reckless actions of the ANC. We are trying to save trade agreements and access to humanitarian funding. We are doing this because the government has failed to do so," said Kleynhans.
He said there was no evidence how their visit could cause division.
"It is the ANC's 142 racial laws, the attack on Afrikaans schools, daily discrimination against minorities and the constant hate speech against Afrikaners that are causing division. Not our actions," said Kleynhans.
When asked if they had made contact with the South African embassy in the US, he said that they had no confidence in them.
"It is precisely they and the ANC leadership who, through irresponsible behaviour over the past few years, have caused a growing diplomatic crisis between South Africa and the USA," said Kleynhans.
Among their recommendations in the memorandum given to the US, the groups propose that pressure be put on South Africa to declare farm murders a priority crime and to condemn politicians who called for killing them. They also asked the US government to put pressure on South Africa to repeal those provisions in the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act that remove schools' right to determine their own language and admission policies.
Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu, has challenged AfriForum to produce evidence supporting their claim that the recent national crime statistics were inaccurate concerning the murders of white farmers.
Mchunu challenged Afriforum to provide evidence of their mentioned incidents, which they claim are well documented, as soon as they land in SA.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking on the sidelines of an education summit, said AfriForum and Solidarity were creating divisions instead of nation building.
"Running around the world to have your grievances solved only sows discord. It causes South Africans to view each other negatively, which is not the right way to handle our challenges,” said Ramaphosa
AfriForum CEO, Kallie Kriel, responded to Ramaphosa's statement saying leaders of the ANC must accept responsibility for the division they were sowing.
“It is Ramaphosa who signed the anti-Afrikaans Bela Act – an act that threatens the cultural existence of Afrikaans-speaking cultural communities. It is also Ramaphosa who signed the Expropriation Act. It is he who refuses to condemn slogans such as ‘Kill the Boer’ and it is the same president who denies the existence of farm murders,” said Kriel.
Michael Morris, head of media at the Institute of Race Relations, said he did not think any action needed to be taken against any South Africans for expressing themselves, whether at home or abroad.
Morris said the real problems must be addressed via vigorous reform capable of triggering rapid economic and jobs growth.
"As for the argument that ethnic balkanisation is a serious option for giving anyone a better life, this needs to be squarely confronted in public debate.”
“South Africans are not so easily fooled into thinking that what threatens them most or is most important to how they cohere as a society is one or another minority ethnic group making a case for living apart. What is of most concern to most people is the scale of grinding poverty, pitifully low economic growth, and devastating unemployment, and the apparent absence either of the will or of the ideas to do much about any of them. This is what is really tearing the social fabric," said Morris.
Dominique Jeftha, the DA's national communications manager said they had noted the MK Party's remarks but was yet to decide on whether to comment on it.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE