Loading ...About AfriForum
What is AfriForum?
Let your voice be heard …
AfriForum will directly contribute to giving you and your community a voice in a society where minorities are increasingly being ignored. AfriForum offers a Forum for the constructive activation of minorities to participate in public debate and action, in order to ensure a future for us in Africa.
… and benefit!
Your AfriForum membership not only benefits your community, but also your wallet – every time you use your Afriforum membership card at any one of the hundreds of Infinity partners countrywide. The more you spend, the greater the rewards – in cash!
The membership fee is a minimum of R30-00 per month.
Why is there a need for AfriForum?
The problem: Apathetic withdrawal
Civil societies in general, and minorities in particular, have fallen into a spiral of withdrawal that holds negative consequences for the minorities themselves, for democratic principles and for the country as a whole.
Active participation
AfriForum, an independant initiative of the trade union Solidarity, is a non-profit institution which endeavours to eradicate this cycle of withdrawal. The process motivates minorities to participate constructively in public life and debate by means of:
- Campaigns for the protection and consolidation of civil rights, as contained in the South African Constitution and international conventions. The campaigns will concentrate on the protection of civil and other rights across a wide spectrum. Specific problem areas, e.g. the government’s growing obsession with race, political interference in sport, race-based welfare subsidies, crime and the ill-considered changing of some place names will receive attention.
- Establishing functional forums in various spheres of life, in response to various needs and issues that may crop up in the community. Forums focusing on the following issues have either already been established or are being planned: civil rights, social affairs, future vision, migration (including Solidarity’s Come Home Campaign), taxpayers, crime, sport, the aged, the youth, women, etc.
- Creating a future vision for minority communities, built on self-respect and independence, as a platform to enable minority communities to take their rightful place in our country and take part in the mainstream national debate.
- Promoting co-operation between civil institutions. Campaigns and forums with specific objectives offer existing civil institutions and persons with divergent points of view an opportunity to work together on matters of joint concern without abandoning the principles on which they may differ.
- Liaising with the rest of the world by means of the Come Home Campaign (that assists skilled expatriates to return home), newsletters to South Africans abroad and contact with foreign institutions to promote civil rights, where needed.
- Liaising with the authorities by means of AfriForum’s parliamentary liaison office, to give a voice to minority communities.
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Staff
- Tel: 086-10-200-30
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Civil Rights Charter
We, the compilers and supporters of this charter, exercise the deliberate choice to lead a meaningful existence as Afrikaners, with our deeply-rooted foundation at the southernmost tip of Africa. We know no other home.
This right to a meaningful existence extends to all communities and we are pleased to cooperate in seeking a better future for all.
In exercising our choice of existence, we are inspired by the same universal values of freedom, equality and justice for all.
To this end we offer a democratic plea for:
- The expansion and preservation of civil, minority, human and constitutional rights;
- The establishing of self-reliant and self-respecting communities;
- The attainment of settlements between communities for the promotion of peaceful co-existence and tolerance;
- The establishing and preservation of mutual recognition and respect;
- The quest for a balance between economic development, the environment and globalisation.
We therefore declare for all to know:
- That South Africa belongs to all communities and individuals that legally reside in her;
- That no government can claim the status of being a mature democracy if such government cannot or will not reach a balance between the rights and interest of the majority and those of minorities; and
- That no moral justification can be found for racially motivated policies that reduce any grouping to second-class citizens in the country of their birth.
We therefore adopt this civil rights charter and commit ourselves to leave no stone unturned in our quest to attain the realistic dream and future vision set out underneath, for the benefit of all the citizens of South Africa.
Civil rights for all!
Our future vision does not ask for special treatment for any community, but demands that the basic civil rights bestowed on communities and individuals by international declarations and the Constitution of South Africa be honoured.
In our demand for our civil rights, we are inspired by the republican tradition, which is based on democratic participation and accord among the citizenry, rather than a mentality of slavish submission.
We also note with enthusiasm the most recent international developments relating to the notion of human rights, in terms of which minority rights, as an integral part of human rights worldwide, are accepted as such in adjunct to the classic individual and socio-economic rights that developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Our advocacy of civil rights places at least as much emphasis on the internationally recognised rights of national minorities as on individual human rights.
We are committed to the continuous monitoring of that status of civil rights in South Africa and to take appropriate action when such rights are violated.
Minority rights for all national minorities!
We invoke internationally recognised principles regarding minority rights, as contained in a series of international conventions and declarations. These principles are not dependent on the policies or goodwill of governments or authorities, but are rights that enjoy widespread international recognition.
In the light of these conventions and declarations we will work unceasingly for amongst other things:
- Equal rights and responsibilities for the total population, including the members of minority communities;
- Participation and decision-making powers with regard to issues that affect them directly. In a true democracy minorities are not permanently subjected to decision-making by the majority;
- Free participation in economic activity by members of minority communities. The state cannot implement policies that exclude minorities in a discriminatory fashion from free economic participation;
- Mother tongue education to the highest levels, including the existence of single-medium educational establishments. No government may, under the guise of access, derogate from the right to mother tongue education;
- Language rights. Free usage of minority languages must be possible in both the private and the public domain;
- The right of minorities to operate institutions and organisations. No government may, under the guise of population representation, render the existence of minority institutions impossible;
- The right of minorities and other citizens to feel at home as first-class citizens in the country of their birth. No government should passively sit by as thousands of citizens leave the country because they feel like second-class citizens;
- Free association. Association with a national minority is entirely voluntary and no person may be put at a disadvantage because of a choice of this nature;
- Freedom of religion and the right of communities to practise their religion in accordance with their own cultural customs;
- Free participation by minorities in public life, sports teams and other activities, based on merit;
- The right of minorities to derive, like the rest of the population, fair benefit from the taxes that they pay and to participate in decisions regarding the utilisation of such taxation;
- The principle that issues affecting national minorities are matters of legitimate international interest and not simply the domestic affair of the government in question.
We shall continuously point out to the state its obligation, in terms of international declarations, to:
- Protect and promote the cultural, linguistic and religious identity of national minorities in order to foster cordial relations between population groups and to promote peace, democracy, justice and stability;
- Create opportunities and mechanisms for effective participation by national minorities in public life and economic activity.
Constitutional rights must materialise in practice!
We associate ourselves with the declaration in the Preamble to the Constitution of South Africa (1996) that “… South Africa belongs to all who live in her, united in diversity”, as well as the values and rights contained therein, including human dignity, equality, human rights and freedoms.
- In the first place we recognise that the constitutional rights of citizens will remain paper rights only if all the grand symbolic gestures and pronouncements emanating from the Constitution do not agree with the realities experienced by citizens, including minorities, daily.
The growing gap between the glowing promises of the Constitution and government, and actual events is widened by, amongst other things, the fact that constitutional rights are out of reach of ordinary citizens, due to the high cost of enforcing them by legal means.
For this reason we are committed to do everything possible to ensure that the rights contained in the Constitution are actualised and promoted in practice. We shall oppose any attempt to undermine the rights contained in the Constitution and to subject them to racially-motivated political agendas that are carried out in the name of transformation.
- In the second place, we are increasingly becoming aware of the fact that changing power relationships and new realities have shown up a number of constitutional deficiencies with regard to the rights and interests of South African minorities.
We are not single-minded about these deficiencies and operate within the realities of the situation. We therefore demand for ourselves and others all the rights and duties contained in the Constitution. We strive in particular for the realisation of the following constitutional rights:
- The promotion and protection of multi-lingualism [Section 6];
- The right to equality [Section 9]. We reject any attempt to subject, in the guise of equality, individuals and in particular members of minority communities to unequal treatment, since creative ways can be found to accomplish equality without creating new forms of inequality;
- The right to protection of human dignity [Section 10]. We shall endeavour to protect the human dignity of all and oppose, among other things, violation of human dignity through the practice of racial classification by the authorities and institutions, for which no legal basis exists.
- The right to safety [Section 12]. We demand that government eradicates violent crime on farms, in rural settlements, towns and cities;
- The right to freedom of religion [Section 15];
- The right to freedom of expression [Section 16];
- The right to freedom of association [Section 17];
- The right to fair labour relations [Section 23];
- Rights relating to the protection of the environment [Section 24];
- Property rights [Section 25];
- The right of children and individuals to social assistance [Sections 27 & 28]. We regard it as unethical and unconstitutional to use race as a yardstick in the allocation of social subsidies, particularly in view of the fact that poverty increasingly knows no colour;
- Education, including the right to education in the official language of one’s choice and the right to single-medium schools [Section 29];
- The right of each person to use the language of his or her own choice and to take part in his or her own choice of cultural life [Section 30];
- The rights of the members of cultural, religious and language communities [Section 31];
- Fair administrative processes [Section 33];
- Enforcement by the courts of rights as contained in the Bill of Rights [Section 38];
- The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Language Communities [Section 185]. We shall endeavour to ensure that this Commission serves the purpose for which it had been established and does not degenerate into a vehicle in the service of different agendas;
- The right to self-determination [Section 235].
Self-reliant and self-respecting communities must be created!
In the spirit of the republican tradition, we believe in government with limited and clearly circumscribed powers, and in a vital and active civil society. We reject excessive civil dependence on the state and believe that people should build their own future through their own efforts and initiative.
For this reason we promote the creation of self-reliant and self-respecting communities as the building blocks for a successful Africa.
Peaceful coexistence and tolerance must be achieved through settlements!
We believe and are motivated by the conviction that the continued existence and progress of no community can be based on committing injustices against others. This is a recipe for polarisation and intolerance.
It is for this reason that we strive for a political dispensation in which, in the midst of changing power relationships and new realities, settlements are continuously sought for the conflicting interests of communities.
We are inspired by the fact that in the spirit of the quest for win-win solutions, it is achievable to develop a formula that will promote peaceful coexistence and tolerance between communities.
We are extremely concerned about the fact that such a quest for win-win solutions does not exist at present and that the interests of the majority are furthered at the expense of minorities under the guise of democracy and transformation.
Mutual recognition and respect must be established and fostered!
Win-win solutions can be achieved if mutual recognition and respect exist between the majority and minority communities.
We therefore strive for a dispensation in which diversity is not only recognised, but respected.
Criminalising the history of a community and disowning place names and monuments that are crucial to the heritage of a community are acts of disparagement and disrespect.
A balance must be found between economic development, the environment and globalisation!
We acknowledge the material basis of our own existence and that of other communities and recognise that civil rights are meaningless to those who have no food.
We therefore strive for a new free market school of thought that rejects both socialism and market fundamentalism. The one results in bondage; the other in hunger and misery.
We show solidarity with all who are hungry and cannot provide their children with a decent existence and education, and we strive for a dispensation that can realise democracy and equal rights in the economic field as well.
We therefore oppose large-scale government intervention in the economy, but we also oppose the culture that has elevated profit-seeking to the be-all and end-all of the private sector and in terms of which the interest of employees and the environment are merely theoretical.
We welcome the access to the rest of the world that has been afforded to us by globalisation. We are aware of the fact that to attempt to seclude ourselves from the rest of the world will result in stagnation and decline. We also realise that communal self-reliance and local economic development are vital in limiting the negative effects of globalisation.
We therefore strive for a balance to be found between economic development, the environment and globalisation.
An appeal!
We appeal to all to join us in the spirit of friendship, in our quest for ways in which a middle-course may be charted between the rights and interests of the majority and those of the minority.
We consider this Civil Rights Charter to be an action emanating there from as a vital contribution to the creation of a basis for future peaceful coexistence.
