Representatives of the civil rights organisation AfriForum will, on 27 November and 1 December, participate in two separate events of the United Nations (UN). The organisation will thereby create further international awareness about discrimination, which is currently rampant in the form of numerous race-based legislation. AfriForum will also point to incidents of hate speech, such as the continuous singing of the chant “Kill the Boer”, which targets minorities in South Africa. One of the most urgent issues that AfriForum will bring to the UN’s attention is the racial criteria for agricultural exports to Europe that the South African government recently announced in the Government Gazette.

The first event in which AfriForum will participate involves a follow-up visit to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). AfriForum submitted a report to the committee last year documenting all the new discriminatory legislation and policies as well as incidents of discrimination in South Africa that have been implemented and proposed, or occurred since 2020. This report also documented some of the most notorious incidents of hate speech and incitement to violence against minorities by high-profile individuals during the same period.

South Africa’s record in relation to the elimination of discrimination in the country is being reviewed by CERD this year. AfriForum will therefore submit a new report on the South African government’s racial discrimination to CERD and make a short presentation as part of AfriForum’s contribution to this review process.

Ernst van Zyl, AfriForum’s Head of Public Relations, will also make a presentation to the UN’s Forum on Minority Issues this week. In this presentation, AfriForum will shed light on the ongoing hate speech and discrimination that take place against minority groups in South Africa.

The most significant aspects of AfriForum’s presentations include, among other things:

• AfriForum’s 2023 report found that since 1910, around 313 race laws have been introduced in South Africa. Almost 37% of this was created since the ANC came to power in 1994.
• Details regarding the continuous singing of the chant “Kill the Boer” (by the EFF leader, Julius Malema, and members of the EFF), as well as the increase in farm attacks recorded after the singing of the song, will be included in the presentation. The most famous example that will be pointed out during the presentation is the occasion during which Malema sang this chant earlier this year in front of a crowd of 90 000 EFF supporters, and which was followed by an increase in farm attacks. In one farm attack, which took place shortly after the aforementioned event, the attackers shouted “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” while stabbing the female victim with a spear.
• AfriForum will also place other recent incidents of racial discrimination on record. Cases that will be reported include the pharmacy group Dis-Chem’s decision to place a moratorium on the appointment and promotion of white people; and the government’s announcement that farmers who do not meet certain established racial criteria will be excluded from tariff-free exports to Europe.

“The South African government was conspicuous in their absence in 2022 when they did not turn up to take part at the UN Forum on Minority Issues. However, AfriForum was ready and prepared to put the true state of affairs on record. This year, we are once again ready and will not remain silent about the discriminatory practices that are currently taking place in the country,” says Van Zyl.

“In the past number of years, AfriForum has already built up a strong international reputation and legitimacy as a reliable source of information on civil rights matters in South Africa, especially with regard to minorities. This visit is therefore an indispensable opportunity to testify to the plight of South African minorities,” concludes Van Zyl.

AfriForum will give further details about each event on the day it takes place.