President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his concern and disappointment at what he calls the misinformation that Afriforum and Solidarity have spread about South Africa in the United States of America.
The two lobby groups have visited the USA a number of times, gaining an audience with some lawmakers and right wing media personalities who have amplified their message that Afrikaners are under threat.
Ramaphosa, answering questions in Parliament on Tuesday, has labelled what Afriforum and Solidarity have done as unpatriotic:
“When you are a patriot, the best you do is to solve the problems of issues you have in-country, rather than damage the sovereignty of your country by running off to other countries and expecting them to take action against your own country.”
The President says the lobby groups are partly to blame for what has transpired, with Donald Trump taking action against South Africa:
“In part, through what they have done, they have instigated the action that is now being taken against the people of South Africa. Whether that is treasonous or not is a matter that our law enforcement agencies need to look at. But I take a dim view, a very negative view of what has ensued as they run around the world bad mouthing their own country, and putting their country in disrepute, not by things that are happening but by misinformation.”
He says they are also causing division in South Africa, spreading racist statements:
“What they are seeking to do is spreading racist statements about their own country when we are involved in building a nation out of the throes of a very divided situation that we suffered under.”
In response, Afriforum’s head Kallie Kriel rejected the accusations against his organisation and Solidarity, saying Ramaphosa himself is responsible for the ‘breach of trust’ that has occurred.
Writing on X, Kriel repeated the claim that the BELA Act ‘targets Afrikaans schools and consequently threatens the survival of Afrikaans cultural communities.’
“Did he really think we would meekly accept this act of aggression against us? Under his leadership, ANC leaders have acted unpatriotically and disloyally toward the people of the country through mismanagement and corruption. He has also placed the country in the line of fire by, among other things, signing the Expropriation Act, which will drive away investors and lead to increasing poverty.”
Kriel goes further to say that the President is dishonest when he says that local solutions could have been found for these disputes, saying he blatantly ignored AfriForum’s letter to him in April 2024 regarding the dangers of the expropriation law.
“He also treated us with contempt by disregarding the BELA agreement made at Nedlac with Solidarity and falsely pretending that he had never given a mandate for negotiations.”
So you think your big brother Trump must come and fight for you? Shame on you!
— phumla williams (@mirriamp) March 12, 2025
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During yesterday’s question and answer session in Parliament, Ramaphosa reaffirmed that the USA remains a strategic and historic partner to South Africa, and that envoys will soon be sent to smooth over relations with the US Administration.
“We have expressed concern about the mischaracterisation of the situation in our country and certain of our laws and our foreign policy positions. We will continue to engage with the United States of America and other stakeholders to correct this mischaracterisation and to restore the ties between our two countries.”
The President also responded to a question regarding his recent telephone call to Elon Musk, who is perhaps the most influential figure in the Trump administration, saying he told Musk about the mischaracterisation of South Africa in the US.
