The root causes of the current social, economic and political conflict in SA are to be found in:
- an unfortunate comfewdirections continuing racist neo-apartheid syndrome by a small group of far-right white Afrikaner leaders in the country,
- poor and corrupt governance by the current ANC-led black majority government, while
- the interaction between these two toxic political cultures results in a mutually toxic escalation in racially-based conflict.
This essay assesses first the problems caused by outdated and inappropriate Afrikaner attempts to perpetuate a neo-apartheid system in South Africa (SA), followed by a critical assessment of the ANC’s destructive reactions to these attempts and the negative consequences/symptoms of this response for SAas a result of the cumulative toxic effect of these two unfortunate political cultures. I conclude with a fewdirections, approaches and strategies on how to try to neutralise and improve the negative consequences of these two toxic cultures.
1: White Afrikaner opposition to post-apartheid transformation
From the VOC's establishment in SA in 1652, until 1994 when apartheid came to an end, white settlers (and especially Afrikaners) in South Africa established a racial monopoly on the best opportunities, status,work, positions, incomes, schools, living areas and services, at the expense of non-white residents of this region. This racial discrimination was enforced by legislation and even violence on all other races in the country. This unfairly favoured white South Africans, especially Afrikaners, over other races.
This practice was based on the unproven pre-colonial and colonial assumptions that white Europeanswere superior in race, culture and intellectual ability to all other races and cultures. This was supposed toend in 1994, when the first black majority government was democratically elected. Unfortunately, this was not the end of this negative political culture, especially among white Afrikaners.
Forty years after SA became a modern black African democracy, there is still a significant vocal defence by, among others, some well-organized far-right white Afrikaner leaders, especially from Solidarity,AfriForum and Orania (AfriSol), of their current historically privileged circumstances. Their privileges underapartheid gave them an unfair advantage over their non-white compatriots, which continues today still in many sectors of society. They are also still pursuing Afrikaner political self-determination goals in isolated geographical communities such as Orania and other proposed Afrikaner-dominated urban ‘cantons’, as well as white functional self-determination in Afrikaans schools.
Many of them already vehemently opposed the principle of a black majority government in the countryunder apartheid, and now loudly proclaim the fake news that they and other Afrikaners are, in principle, being victimized as Afrikaners by the current ANC-led black majority government. This is done through a systematic professional political marketing campaign financed mainly by Solidarity’s trade union membership contributions. Hard evidence of this dates already back to 2010, as the social media posts below demonstrate:
Trade union members pay membership fees to their union to protect their interests in the workplace. When trade union leaders make political statements that have nothing to do with their organizations’ union goals, as is the case with Solidarity, they are not speaking on behalf of their members. A few Solidarity trade union leaders, who can be counted on one hand, claim that their members support their political disinformation campaigns. They simply ignore the lack of factual substantiation for their propagandistic claims.
Their claims are, of course, nonsense unless they can prove this is the case through the results of opinion polls among their members that support their claims. In the absence of such factual evidence, AfriSolleaders cannot claim to take political positions on behalf of or even in the interest of their members, let alone on behalf of or in the interest of other people. The signatories and supporters of the 'Not-in-our-name' Afrikaner declaration, on the other hand, have the written evidence that they speak on behalf of those signatories and supporters.
One of the most important negative consequences of these continued neo-apartheid claims by these few influential far-right Afrikaners is that they are dramatically raising the political temperature among black South Africans. The arguments that these right-wingers are making include, among other things, that Afrikaners are still singled out and victimised as an ethnic group by government policy in the form of a systematic campaign of retaliation and persecution by the current coalition government led by the ANC. This is allegedly official government retribution for everything they, as black people, had to go through under apartheid, led by Afrikaners.
The alleged systematic racial and ethnic persecution of Afrikaners is deliberately marketed by conservative Afrikaners both domestically in the country and abroad, especially in the USA. The Trump administration has seized on this as a partial excuse to reduce and cancel essential foreign development aid to South Africa and to accept alleged white South African ‘refugees’ fleeing from what they perceive to be ‘genocidal persecution’ by the black majority government in the country.
These allegations of black victimization against Afrikaners as an ethnic group are factually devoid of alltruth. Afrikaners were themselves the initial apartheid perpetrators just in a different guise. Some of them now blame their previous black victims alone for everything that goes wrong. Until 1994, the Afrikaner-ledNational Party (NP) had for example deliberately and systematically deprived black South Africans of the same quality of education that white South Africans enjoyed in schools, universities and colleges. They have also prevented South Africans of colour from serving in senior positions in the state and economy through job reservations, thus depriving them of the much-needed experience to manage and govern well.
With the implosion of the NP's apartheid regime, South Africans of colour were therefore largely unprepared to take over the management and government of the country. If conservative Afrikaners' white racism had subsided after 1994, and they had readily assisted more urgently and directly with black educational, social and economic empowerment in various ways, we would probably be in a better political situation today.
Inept ANC government and negative black reactions to continued whiteAfrikaner opposition to the new black majority government
The toxic combination of both the continued neo-apartheid efforts of a few white conservative leaders, and very incompetent, inexperienced, corrupt and embittered black post-apartheid government leaders, is to blame for most of the problems we are currently experiencing in SA.
However, there is conclusive evidence that the current ANC government's inept and corrupt management of SA since 1994 has been a major direct cause of the country's current decline. The main reasons for this include oversensitive and embittered black reactions to the white right-wing provocations referred to in section 1; nepotistic ANC cadre deployment policy; unnecessary and inappropriate enforcement by the ANC/SACP/COSATU alliance of ideologically driven policy programmes to accelerate the development and empowerment of South Africans of colour in society, and ANC reluctance to curb corruption within its own party ranks and in the state. These issues are assessed below.
Oversensitive and embittered black reactions to white right-wing provocations
The resistance of conservative Afrikaners to faster transformation in SA and periodic incidents of white racism and hate speech against black residents in the country have caused an escalation in oppositeracist provocations. This includes the deliberate continuation of the black freedom struggle song ‘Kill the farmer, kill the boer’, as well as similar racist views and hate speech incidences on social media platforms such as X, Instagram, FB, WhatsApp, and in newspaper articles, comments, etc.
On the other hand, there are also cases where black activists have deliberately initiated such provocation. Examples include Julius Malema’s firing of an AK-47 in the air at a funeral and the current deputy mayor of Bitou municipality’s alleged firing of a pistol at an initiation celebration. The leader of the ‘Land Party of SA’, Gcobani Ndzongana, also illustrated the emotional feelings among many embittered black individuals well in a posting on X where he threatened that Black South Africans may run out of patience with racist groups such as AfriForum and that this may lead to violent actions against them. The party also called on19 December 2025 on his Facebook site for the immediate arrest of all AfriForum and Solidarity leaders, followers and funders:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=33125930890355867&set=pcb.33126019503680339
The so-called ‘reverse racism’ and hate speech from black ranks are in many and perhaps even most cases, however, reactions to similar provocations that were initially directed by white and especially Afrikaner individuals at individuals and communities of colour. This will have to change in order to try to reduce the emotions generated on both sides, so that more rational discussions can focus in future on the fair and just development and growth of all South Africans.
Nepotistic ANC cadre deployment policy
The ANC has further established a formal practice of making nepotistic appointments of party cadres, partners, family, friends, personal or political supporters to key positions without them having the necessary qualifications, knowledge, experience and/or commitment required. This practice is one of the most important mistakes that the ANC continues to make. It is a direct result of perceptions within blackand specifically ANC ranks that, especially the remaining white state and municipal officials, as well as supporters of other opposition parties, still do not accept the black majority government or the ANC-ledgovernments at lower levels, and therefore sabotage or delay their policy programs.
This deliberate political cadre deployment in the government administration of the country conflicts withvarious legal provisions but still happens very subtly in practice. Among other consequences, it also leads to a domino effect where such appointments themselves also appoint incompetent people from thehighest to the lowest levels, and have an extremely negative impact on all sectors of society, includingenergy management, crime prevention and control, municipal service delivery and management.
Furthermore, it creates a culture of appropriation that manifests itself in the assumptions that one acts in one’s own interest and can use and abuse the existing system to one’s own advantage. The populistmantra ‘it’s now our turn to eat’ illustrates this problem. It also weakens the ability of state agencies at all levels to correctly identify the leading causes and consequences/manifestations of policy problems, to find and implement the most effective and efficient policy remedies for them.
This is not unique to the ANC, however. The origin of this invidious practice was the informal but important influence of the Freemasons and Afrikaner Broederbond before and during apartheid. They created the breeding ground and foundation for the continuation of these unacceptable practices in post-apartheid SA. This will also have to change in the future, as I indicate in the next section.
Ideologically driven government policy programmes
Ideologically driven government programmes: Just after FW de Klerk announced a formal negotiation process with the ANC on 2 February 1990, he tried, among other things, to entrench and expand the ‘self-determination’ of ‘white’ community institutions. For example, ‘language and racial self-determination’ was granted in the form of autonomous governing boards for so-called ‘model C’ schools, which ensured admission of learners, language of instruction, appointment of teachers and control over curricula.
Many of these schools, from the start, only allowed instruction in Afrikaans. They allowed few or no non-white learners, which is largely still the case today. Declining numbers of Afrikaans-speaking learners left unused spaces and facilities at many of these largely ‘white’ schools, compared to insufficient numbers of multi-racial schools providing instruction in English, and overloading of those schools. The currentcoalition government’s inappropriate attempts to create more equitable utilisation of existing educational facilities have, however, so far also caused intense resistance, especially among conservative Afrikaners. These government approaches will urgently need to change to reduce racial tensions with Afrikaners in particular.
The resistance of historically advantaged white South Africans to voluntarily undertake faster social andeconomic empowerment of their black, historically disadvantaged citizens has also meant that the SAeconomy is still, for all practical purposes, under white control 40 years after the collapse of apartheid. This has forced the ANC-led post-apartheid government to create affirmative action policy programmes to accelerate this empowerment. The ANC cadre deployment policy is one of those strategies.
Other examples of such programmes include Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Legislation (BBBEE) with legislative restrictions on white entrepreneurs considering contracts with state agencies in terms of black empowerment legislation. These programs are not, however, the result of persecution specifically against Afrikaners, but rather fairly generally accepted policy programs in various countriessuch as the USA, India, and Malaysia, where similar problems are still experienced. The ANC's core focus on the transfer of majority interests in enterprises to black interests has not had the desired effect so far, however, and needs to be improved, as I suggest in section 4.
Other historically remedial programs also include, among others, the more effective provision of state land and private agricultural land to black farmers. This has so far also failed miserably for various reasons,including the consequences of the ANC's cadre deployment policy and corruption, as well as ideological reactions to white opposition, and ineffective policy implementation. New approaches and strategies to try to improve these weaknesses are suggested in section 4.
The ANC’s ideologically driven foreign policy also continues to prioritise its traditional socialist political supporters during the black liberation struggle against apartheid, especially Russia, China and Cuba, within the alleged ‘non-aligned’ BRICS+ grouping together with Iran, India, Brazil and other countries. BRICS+ positions itself as a political and economic power bloc against the US, EU, NATO and Israel, andsupports Palestine against Israeli occupation. This is currently contributing to the Trump administration’s – Israel’s biggest supporter’s – diplomatic sanctions against South Africa. This is in stark contrast to the NP’sapartheid support for Israel, which especially conservative right-wing Afrikaners in South Africa still want torevive. The ANC’s policy that foreign investors can no longer obtain full ownership rights in SA but merely long-term leases of land, also means that they are reluctant to establish buildings for factories and other industries here. This will have to change.
ANC reluctance to curb corruption within its own party ranks and in the state
Corruption appears to be endemic within the ANC, as it was also endemic in the NP under apartheid, where, among other things, several cabinet ministers were discredited. They even had to serve prisonsentences for it. However, its nature and extent within the ANC and state agencies are much worse thanthey were within the NP. It was reasonably controllable under Mandela and Mbeki, but has clearly become a deliberate, systematic strategy under Zuma, while it is becoming increasingly clear that Ramaphosa still openly allows and tolerates it for various reasons, does not combat it effectively, and is even part of it (Phala-Phala).
Government corruption is exacerbated by the ANC's cadre deployment policy, as already mentioned above. The question is how systemic weaknesses and defects, such as corruption and a culture of embezzlement, can be improved. It is not easy, and cannot be done in the short term, if at all. I will also identify different strategies for this in section 4.
Section 3 now looks ahead, rather than the focus so far on the past and the present.
Directions and strategies to neutralize white Afrikaner resistance to post-apartheidtransformation
In this penultimate section, I identify a few approaches and strategies to neutralise white Afrikaner resistance to the current government's policy. Strategies to reverse the current inappropriate black reactions to that white resistance and thereby try to realize better national governance and government in the interest of all are outlined in section 4.
The starting point of racial transformation is with the current neo-conservative white elites. Their unjustifiable claims to the continuation of white privilege cause a negative racial hardening in domestic reactions from the black side, as well as abroad in the Trump administration, as summarized in section 1.
These positions and actions of AfriSol in particular have so far contributed domestically to worsening general race relations, leading to further escalation of racial conflict between whites and blacks, as well asmore specifically in the ANC towards whites. Their negative impact discredits the good work that AfriSoldoes, through, among other things, their support for and assistance to victims of illegal
labour practices, private prosecutions, after-school training, street repairs, involvement in community forums and neighbourhood watch organisations, as well as assistance to the poor and other people in need through their Helping Hand subsidiary.
Virtually all of these constructive projects are tainted and discredited by the fact that the vast majority oftheir recipients/beneficiaries are white and Afrikaans, while a few people/communities of colour aresometimes also included for reasons of legitimacy and credibility. In line with AfriSol's sudden post-apartheid resistance to any racial distinction, no statistics on a racial basis are made available for their projects. More transparency and evidence that AfriSol recipients' support and assistance without racialconnotations are also available to substantial numbers of people of colour would go a long way towards improving the bona fides and credibility of those contributions.
Most ANC leaders are still incredibly bitter towards the remaining NP, HNP, KP, VF+, and the descendants of the Afrikaner community in particular, who oppressed them for so long. An open demonstration of willingness to change attitudes and behaviour in right-wing conservative white ranks should, over time, result in more moderate black responses.
Consistent indications from specifically conservative Afrikaner communities are needed to refute, amongother things, the following perceptions in black ranks, before one can hope that embittered black leaders will eventually also put down the hatchet on their side. These indications should at least include the following:
- that conservative Afrikaners no longer see themselves as victims of the post-apartheid regime in South Africa;
- that they no longer prioritise secession from this nation in the form of an independent white/Afrikaner-dominated town/city/region/state;
- that they are prepared to focus more and more on the development and growth of an integrated South African nation, as well as
- on the empowerment and development of historically disadvantaged communities of colour;
- through democratic constitutional cooperation with other moderate political groups that share these goals within the framework of the 1996 Constitution, the foundation of our current rule of law.
Given the current mutual distrust between different ideological camps on this matter and the increasingescalation in racial conflict, the National Dialogue Initiative can be a catalyst/ facilitator/ trigger for initiating direct discussions between the most important role players in this process to create a more rational climate for direct discussion and negotiation.
However, it will only be successful if it is pursued with seriousness and in good faith by all parties, so that negative distrust can be transformed into more positive relationships of trust.
The final section focuses on directions and strategies for improving the inept post-apartheid ANC government and negative black reactions against white Afrikaners in particular.
Directions and strategies for improving inept ANC government and negative blackreactions against especially white Afrikaners
This concluding section assesses some possible directions, approaches, and strategies for improving unacceptable, wrong, weak, or corrupt government policies and programs, as well as overemotional reactions of black individuals and communities to provocative viewpoints and actions from especially white Afrikaner ranks, as summarised in section 2. This also requires various systematic and synchronized actions. Examples include the following:
- Government agencies, business, and community organizations should, in principle, disseminate more accurate and contextualized facts to refute disinformation in various ways both domestically and abroad to the general public, as well as to policymakers here and abroad. This can and should be done through various public and confidential influencing strategies and actions. This will put government projects and other facts that AfriSol and other conservative pressure groups, such as the Institute for Race Relations and the Free Market Foundation, misrepresent, in a more accurate context.
- Such correction of disinformation includes the nature and scope of existing legislation that has racial connotations, land expropriation, affirmative action, and the optimal use of schools in the interest of all. It also includes how the content and implementation thereof can be improved. The corrections should be even more targeted than at present via traditional and social media, as well as by directly influencing communities, decision-makers, and their networks and projects.
- Reliable statistics for this purpose are needed on, for example, how much white versus non-white recipients are advantaged and disadvantaged by AfriSol (e.g. Helping Hand, Akademia, SolTech, neighbourhood watch agencies, etc.), and current black economic empowerment programmes of the government. More accurate data on the alleged impact of crime against Afrikaners and other racial and ethnic communities should also be obtained and maintained. If this data is not available or is withheld by those involved, reliable opinion polls should be conducted for that purpose. For example, one should also compare farm murders in SA, the USA and other countries.
- The Inclusive Society Institute's Social Cohesion Index (https://www.inclusivesociety.org.za/polls-and-presentations) findings on the sudden recent deterioration in race relations in SA, its causes and how toimprove them provide further motivation for urgent attitudinal and behavioural change.
- Continued political and legal pressure on government is needed to act more strongly against cadre deployment, state capture and corruption. This can create, fund, and consolidate more targeted capacity-building and good-governance decisions, practices, and cultures at all levels of government.
- The prioritisation and better implementation of more pragmatic reconciling policy programmes instead of ideologically divisive policy approaches such as more sensible approaches to the utilisation of under-utilised educational facilities (Afrikaans schools), in collaboration with that specific education sector.
- This could also include the explicit limited application of expropriation without compensation according to explicit criteria; new approaches to black community empowerment such as contributions to black pupil and student education and training; more systematic business, private and agricultural support for the needy,emerging farmers and farm workers of colour; prioritisation of farm attacks alongside organised crime, offences against women, children and other vulnerable sectorsof society, as well as various other possible projects that support and strengthen these new approaches.Legislation is also needed to remove any doubts about the legality of racial distinctions for affirmative action purposes.
- More effective job creation projects by foreign investors who can more easily establish businesses and buy landinstead of just long-term leasing should be prioritized. Also, public job creation for the unemployed, e.g., better waste processing, invasive plant removal, firefighting, and public infrastructure creation and maintenance at local community levels, can promote sustainable economic growth.
- The ineffective legislative oversight role of parliament over the actions of the executive further indicates a system of government that, in practice, involves an activist, dominant executive and a subordinate, reactive legislative. This is not necessarily the result of a defect in the South African constitution, but a consequence of a ‘strong man’ African political culture within the ANC that has not yet accepted the western multi-party democratic system enshrined in our constitution. It is an open question how to improve this gap between theory and practice. The current traditional western ‘trias politica’ balance between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government within a liberal constitutional state where the rule of law is supposed toapply is clearly in conflict with the ‘strong man’ practice in Africa.
- Both right-wing conservative racism and inappropriate reactions to it from black ranks should thereforechange or improve to realize truly effective, stable development, empowerment, growth, and nation-building in the interests of all South Africans. It is not just one or the other focus and strategy for improvement, but multiple synchronized approaches that must be actively promoted simultaneously to have a positive cumulative impact.
- The envisaged National Dialogue talks can play a very constructive facilitating role in this regard, if done in transparent and participatory ways.
However, it will take decades and even longer if the current white neo-conservative resisters are allowed to continue with their demands to still consider themselves the victims of existing government policies, because it still provokes spontaneous mutual emotional reactions and hardening in black leaders and communities.
Fanie Cloete is Professor Emeritus in Public Policy Governance, Universities of Stellenbosch &Johannesburg and a founder member of the Afrikaners for South Africa movement.
