Latest news with #AfrikanerLeadershipNetwork
IOL News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Afrikaners not responsible for misinforming Donald Trump, says Afrikaner Leadership Network
The Afrikaner Leadership Network says Afrikaners in South Africa cannot be blamed for misinforming United States President Donald Trump about the situation prevailing in Africa's economic powerhouse. The meeting aims to reset strained relations between the two countries and secure a favorable trade deal. Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen, who is also the DA leader, are joined by Minister of Trade and Industry Parks Tau, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and International Relations and Minister Ronald Lamola. New special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas is also part of the team. In an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, the Afrikaner Leadership Network's Theuns Eloff said it is wrong for anyone to blame Afrikaners for misinforming Trump. Eloff added that the misinformation narrative is overstated, adding that he believes Trump knows what is happening in South Africa. Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel. "Let me speak about the American administration and separate them from Mr Trump himself. Mr Trump may believe things that he has been told by we don't know who, not by any Afrikaners' organisations of this country. As the Afrikaner Leadership Network, when we met with the ANC, we said we had never said there is white genocide and we had never said there is large scale expropriation of white or Afrikaner farms. So he got it somewhere," said Eloff. 'This thing of misinformation is bandied about. If I were in the American administration and I had to advise the president, I would ask the embassy in South Africa and probably the CIA who can read everything that is being said on South African media and South African social media.
Daily Maverick
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Enough is enough! Talk to everyone! Include everyone! We are Afrikaans! I am an Afrikaner!
The ANC held what were described as 'hush-hush' talks on 6 May 2025 with a so-called 'Afrikaner Leadership Network', facilitated by the PAC. What a shame for the ANC to hold one-sided discussions in isolation with only Solidarity, AfriForum, the SA Agri Initiative and the Afrikanerbond on urgent issues in the country. And not even one woman in the mix! Do we really still have to ask this question: 'Who is the Afrikaner?' Does Afrikaner in today's context still only refer to one demographic, as this one-sided meeting would seem to suggest? Our country's Constitution is for everyone. This wilful act is a deliberate snub to the broader Afrikaner community that reflects a rich variety of Afrikaner identities with Afrikaans as their mother tongue, myself included; communities that include brown, white, black and Indian South Africans. It is dangerous for the governing party to only meet with one group whose mother tongue is Afrikaans, who call themselves Afrikaners — Afrikaners who in our 31-year-old democracy still enjoy all the privileges from the previous dispensation — on urgent matters affecting everyone in the country. Kill the Boer I wholeheartedly agree that 'Kill the Boer' should not be sung at all, because farmers don't only consist of the white demographic. We also have many successful black and brown farmers in our country. As a true Afrikaner, I therefore consider this song inappropriate and extremely offensive. Surnames like mine — 'Le Roux' — also confirm my and many others' identity as Afrikaners, as French Huguenots enslaved our Khoi great-grandmothers and fathered children with them who looked like them, yet rejected them as their offspring. Furthermore, South African history scholars also hold the view that the term Afrikaner was widely used to describe local creole people of mixed Khoi, San, Dutch, Baster, Griqua and other colonial-born individuals during the time of the VOC's colonisation of the Cape. The ANC is happy to talk to one group of Afrikaners, but refuses to have in-depth discussions with the Khoi/San/Nama — the first true Afrikaners — who are still being excluded and getting the short end of the stick. My greatest fear is that we are moving further and further away from a South African identity toward nationalism, which completely contradicts our country's Constitution. Our 'leaders' are having talks that do not focus on the future and wellbeing of our children. Let me say it loud and clear: Just stop, please! I am a proud speaker of Afrikaans within a diverse society that recently served more than 15,000 South Africans in Afrikaans over a weekend at Artscape during the Suidoosterfees, and followed this up with a children's festival in Afrikaans for 12,000 children! We at Artscape are also already busy with our isiXhosa High School Festival for the thousands of pupils in our province whose mother tongue is isiXhosa. We include all Afrikaners – women and children. We leave no one behind! Why do certain 'white' organisations continue to exclude brown Afrikaners, and also other white Afrikaners who are not part of their circle? Secrecy and exclusion The secrecy and exclusion of the larger Afrikaans community baffles me. Why continue with one-sided talks about urgent issues? What is more urgent than the future of our children? Enough is enough! Talk to everyone! Include everyone! We are Afrikaans! I am an Afrikaner! The time is ripe for the establishment of an alternative and inclusive Afrikaner movement consisting of all Afrikaans speakers regardless of their ethnic background, which is based on the values of the Constitution and that will focus on and help to get the new South Africa back on the track that we so enthusiastically set in motion in 1994. Let us stand together against corruption. Let us stand together for justice for all, including the disabled. Let us learn from the proactivity of a country like Kenya, which, with its Disability Bill, enshrines the rights to education, employment, health services and accessible public spaces for persons with disabilities, with a clear mandate to national and regional governments to implement these provisions. Let us learn from and support organisations like Lief en Leed for people with disabilities, which was started by people with disabilities in Mamre to empower all people, people who struggle daily just to survive. We as citizens of the country must not keep quiet, and must raise our voices at all times to practise inclusivity at all levels. This is what we need to focus on in South Africa. DM
News24
08-05-2025
- Politics
- News24
‘Gloves were off': PAC facilitates ‘robust' ANC-Afrikaner exchange
The ANC and the Afrikaner Leadership Network addressed contentious issues in a four-hour meeting in Sandton, facilitated by the PAC. Heated discussions focused on the BELA Act, the Expropriation Act, farm murder claims, and US-SA relations. Both sides have pledged to seek South African solutions to national challenges but agreed not to disclose further details to avoid jeopardising talks. The hush-hush four-hour marathon meeting between the ANC and the Afrikaner Leadership Network at a hotel in Sandton has been at least four weeks in the making, and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) finally convinced the organisations to meet on Tuesday. Though a decision was taken at the meeting not to divulge any further details, the PAC told News24, 'there was blood on the floor and blood on the walls' as the organisations discussed contentious issues, including the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act, Expropriation Act, untruths around farm murders and US-SA relations. The Afrikaner Leadership Network includes the Solidariteit Movement, Solidariteit and AfriForum - entities that the ANC has publicly condemned. AfriForum has also criticised the ANC for its ties to Iran and Hamas. 'All I can tell you is that in the meeting itself, the discussions were so robust. There was blood on the floor and blood on the walls there; the gloves were taken off,' the PAC's Jaki Seroke said. The meeting was co-chaired by PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso and Seroke. The ANC also sent a delegation of mostly women, led by its first deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane. AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel also attended alongside Solidariteit and Solidariteit Movement representatives. Southern African Agri Initiative boss Theo de Jagger also reportedly attended. 'We organised a meeting. We are responsible for bringing the two entities together. The ANC and the group of Afrikaners had reached a stalemate around issues like the BELA, and there were lots of problems relating to those negotiations over the use of Afrikaans, the Expropriation Act, and several other things that were touchy subjects. 'But in reality, the two had been talking to each other over time; they've been consulting with each other, and the stalemate made the tensions so high that they were not even prepared to talk to each other,' Seroke said. He added after learning of the tensions, the PAC decided to intervene. 'It took a bit of time, but within a few weeks, we were able to have this meeting that took place on Tuesday. It was a tough meeting because I think the disagreements they had went too deep in such a manner that they had to tell each other off. 'Among the issues that are pertinent is this dimension that includes the US, and the allegations that farmers were killed and so on, these things that we do not know, there's no evidence of it. 'So all of that entanglement needs careful, careful dealing with. So there's a lot of diplomacy and an approach to it in such a way that we have agreed with the three entities, PAC, ANC and the Afrikaner Leadership Network, that at this stage, we will not disclose the contents of what we were discussing,' Seroke said. WATCH | 'We are going nowhere': Solidarity, AfriForum blame ANC for Trump order Asked why the PAC felt the need to intervene, he added: 'The PAC has its own checkered history. We found out that we are at each other's throats for nothing in most instances, and we will fight because we have presumptions which are based on falsehoods. So the best thing is to talk to each other. 'We have learnt from our own internal experiences and also looking at the broader South Africa that the concept of holding dialogue, not monologues, dialogues and treating each other fairly, whether the party is small or big, is essential,' Seroke added. The Afrikaner Leadership Network and the ANC also confirmed the meeting through similarly worded statements. According to the statements, the respective parties held robust and frank discussions on various issues of national interest. '[Tuesday's] dialogue is a clear indication that, as South Africans, we have a collective responsibility to address the challenges that our nation faces. 'The parties have identified issues around which we are committed to find South African solutions, in the interest of a diverse and united nation,' ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri wrote. Kriel also reiterated the statement's sentiments, adding that 'all parties are committed to ensuring that we find solutions'. 'However, we decided not to give any further comment as we want to ensure that the negotiations process is not jeopardised by various parties getting into a public debate,' he said. Attempts to reach ANC spokesperson Bhengu-Motsiri have been unsuccessful. Her comments will be added once received.
