MR GWEDE MANTAHE
ANC SECRETARY GENERAL
LUTHULI HOUSE

Dear Mr Mantashe

OPEN LETTER - AFRIKANERBOND RESPONSE TO YOUR LETTER OF 267 APRIL 2011

With reference to your letter dated 26 April 2011 in response to the open letter of the Afrikanerbond on the same day:

We welcome your opinion that it is everyone's duty and responsibility to maintain and uphold the South African Constitution. Therefore our request for a national dialogue on the values ​​contained in the Constitution, since it is clear that there is different interpretations on the provisions of the Constitution. You chose not to respond to it.

Instead of talking about South Africa 's commitment to the Constitution, the race card is once again and unjustly used and are we accused of maintaining white rights - your reference to the oppressors and the colonialists. Your letter confirms the perception, with many South Africans, that the ANC is constantly working on creating a better past instead of shaping a better future for everybody.

Nowhere in our letter did we attempt to  promote or protect white rights or privileges. We referred to the concerns and problems of minorities. South Africa is recognised as a country of diversity with minorities in White, Black, Indian and Coloured communities.

Unfortunately, minorities and their rights and expectations are not recognised by the ANC, with white and black constantly pitched against each other. South Africa is much more complex than you pretend.

Nowhere in our letter did we deny or question black expectations and aspirations. Far from it. We are acutely aware that the education crisis is affecting the black community the worst, with estimates off up to 80% of schools that are dysfunctional. The FW de Klerk Foundation said in its Freedom Day statement:

"The children of the 1994 voters - the supposed beneficiaries of our new freedom - are now becoming restive.  The education system has failed them dismally.  A million children from each entry class have dropped out of school before writing matric.   The great majority of those who actually pass matric leave school with pathetically inadequate qualifications and are destined to join the swelling ranks of the unemployed." 

We are just as concerned about this and raised this with you during our meeting of 2 February 2011.

We are acutely aware that the magnitude of corruption in the public sector is hampering service delivery, especially in the black community. We are fully aware that cadre-deployment, where political loyalists are appointed, excludes other black and experienced people.

All these issues have been repeatedly identified and raised by us in our interaction with government and the ANC - and we will continue to point it out. You, however, make the same mistake as the ANC by regularly answering criticism with the race card and the protection of white privilege. The same criticism from people in the black community is often dismissed as counterrevolutionary.  

When we express criticism of the ANC's handling of issues such as affirmative action and black economic empowerment it is not about the policy itself but on its application. You criticise the Afrikanerbond and then justify your position with an invalid argument that 72% of all managerial positions is in the hands of white men. The 2007 figures from the Commission for Employment Equity suggest that white men hold 49% of all managerial posts.

The figure may now be still lower in 2011. Our view is that affirmative action is currently a smokescreen for cadre-deployment and that skills and expertise are no longer recognised.  Therefore our concern that many municipalities and provincial governments, and even some parastatals, are dysfunctional.

The Afrikanerbond is on record that our criticism on the non-compliance of the constitutional prescripts on languages affects all language groups in South Africa , including indigenous languages. The English only policy is therefore affecting all other languages negatively.

Your statement that 87% of all land is owned by only 10% of the population is an untested proposition. To date the Department of Land Affairs has not done a proper audit on land ownership but in a report by the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs submitted to a parliamentary committee on 31 March 2011 indicated that at least 19% of land is owned by the state.

Mr John Kane-Berman, chief executive of the South African Institute of Race Relations, said in a speech on 30 March 2011 "Africans probably now own close to 20% if one adds in 2 million hectares purchased on the open market and 6 million transferred by the State. Don't forget, however, that the State owns possibly 25% of this country. That slice was previously part of the white 87%. It should now be subtracted from the white share and added to the black share, which pushes the latter up to about 45%. Add in coloured and Indian ownership, which some people estimate at a high 10%, and the total black slice rises to about 55%".

So when we talk about land ownership, we must do this from a factual position and not from an emotional and unfounded position. You know that since our meeting on 2 February 2011 we have attempted on various occasions, without success, to meet with minister Nkwinti to have a constructive discussion on land reform.

You refer to a level playing field and accused the Afrikanerbond that we are not honest on levelling the playing field where non-racialism is concerned. You can not replace one form of racism (apartheid) with a new form of racism.

Our position is that the playing field is levelled when all have an equal chance at the start. You want to be equal at the finishing line. This is when performance, merit and hard work, irrespective of colour will suffer.

It is uncalled for, but ironic that you refer to the Afrikanerbond's predecessor, the Afrikaner Broederbond, in the current debate on constitutional values. In our interaction in the past your profound knowledge of the Broederbond surprised us. Let us once again refresh your memory.

Already in the late seventies, members of the Broederbond became increasingly concerned that the policy of separate development will not be sustainable in the long-term. The Afrikaner Broederbond considered it its duty to seriously consider the future on how matters may develop in future and how Afrikaner interests can be protected.

This led to serious discussions in own ranks and in 1983 the Afrikaner Broederbond established a political policy committee to start with a scientific scenario planning process. This led to a reflection on how to assist with the creation of a new political dispensation.

Many of the ideas went against the grain of the National Party government. Many members of the National Party government were also members of the Afrikaner Broederbond and was therefore aware of developments in the organisation.

There can be no doubt that the debate in the Afrikaner Broederbond was also considered in government circles. This groundwork laid the foundation for moving away from discrimination and the establishment of a democratic dispensation in which all citizens of the country can participate. The Afrikaner Broederbond's role was not only limited to the generation of academic discussion papers and the formulation of policy positions.

It went much further and included discussions with the leaders of the then banned ANC. For example, Prof. Pieter de Lange chairperson of the Afrikaner Broederbond in 1983 and again in 1986, held talks with ANC representatives, including Mr. Thabo Mbeki. You are therefore in denial of the very important role that the Afrikaner Broederbond played in the reforms and the new political dispensation.

Our problem today with the interpretation of the Constitution is that the important balance the national accord brought is not applied, namely:

• the need for equality on the one hand and the need for the avoidance of unfair discrimination on the other;
• the need for the protection of property rights on the one hand and the need to promote fair and balanced land reform on the other;
• the need for democratic representation in government and the need for effective services and;  
• the need to nurture our rich diverse cultural, linguistic and religious heritage and the need to strengthen overall national unity.

We remain concerned about the deeply divided society in which we find ourselves. This is not the legacy or remains of apartheid, but rather a denial of the above important principles. Your opinion published on March 9, 2010 in Beeld is very ironic: "South Africans should rather work together to perform more so that we can have a winning nation.

A short-sighted focus on racial and ethnic interests, will place the country on a dangerous route." We share this view wholeheartedly and our concerns about the increasing racial polarisation were addressed in several unanswered letters to Presidents Mbeki and Zuma and Speaker of Parliament, Mr Max Sisulu.

Our position is also shared by the Freedom Day statement of the South African Human Rights Commission "The commission is concerned about the growing levels of intolerant and racist discourse that seems to have crept into our dialogue and conversations,"

You pick elements from the NDR which unfortunately do not correspond to our analysis. We therefore remain concerned about the ANC's view and application. Mrs Helen Zille, DA leader, said: "The ANC's national democratic revolution (NDR) is not only incompatible with democracy, but it lies at the root of virtually every crisis which we are facing. The electricity crisis, the arms deal, the manipulation of the criminal justice system, the weakening of parliament and the threats to the media and the justice system can all be traced back to the NDR."

The FW de Klerk Foundation said recently about the NDR: "The ANC's National Democratic Revolution ideology is irreconcilable with the commitment to freedom and non-racism that we celebrate on 27 April.   According to its Strategy & Tactics documents, "the notion that South Africans embraced and made up (after the 1994 transition), and thus erased the root causes of previous conflict, is thoroughly misleading." "The essential contradictions spawned by the system of apartheid colonialism were as much prevalent the day after the inauguration of the new government as they were the day before."  These ‘contradictions' lie primarily in "the continuation of apartheid economic and social relations" in terms of which whites had retained "undeserved" and "ill-begotten" privileges derived from apartheid; and continue to own and dominate most of the economy; occupy most managerial posts and own most of the land. The main goal of the NDR is ‘the deracialistion of ownership and control of wealth' and ‘equity and affirmative action in the provision of skills and access to positions of management.'   In other words, the struggle continues and its target is, by and large, white South Africans."

The analysis of the South African Institute of Race Relations is as follows: "Some of the consequences of the ANC's commitment to the NDR include:

1. The ANC used the strategy of people's war to help eliminate black political rivals and secure its hegemony in the post-apartheid era.

2. The ANC still sees itself as a national liberation movement responsible for implementing a national democratic revolution and hence as uniquely entitled to rule. This makes it contemptuous of Parliament, opposition parties and the press, and determined to reverse adverse electoral outcomes, as in the Western Cape in 2009

3. The ANC does not regard itself as bound by the Constitution and has no principled commitment to press freedom, property rights, or an independent judiciary

4. The ANC has used cadre deployment to give itself control over all the ‘levers of state power'. It also seeks to use this mechanism to extend its control over institutions whose independence is essential to democracy - the judiciary, the press, civil society, universities.

5. The ANC demands demographic representivity in employment in both the public and the private sector. It has made rapid progress towards this in the public service and has increased the pressure on business to follow suit via the BEE Codes of Good Practice and warnings of increased fines under the Employment Equity Act.

6. At Polokwane, the ANC said that ‘the need for affirmative action will decline in the same measure as all centres of power and influence become broadly representative of the country's demographics'. This suggests that other BEE targets, eg the 26% equity target for mining companies, will be increased over time.

7. Overall, the emphasis since 1994 has not been on growing the economic pie but rather on bringing about the redistribution of existing wealth and income from whites to blacks. This is evident in employment equity and BEE laws, in the way in which the ANC has taken control of water and mining rights, and in recurrent calls for nationalisation."

You will therefore understand that we, on behalf of many South Africans, are extremely concerned about the South African Constitution, which is threatened by the NDR and hence our letter to you.  Our view is and remain that the South African constitution can not be subservient to an ideology. This is a recipe for conflict and disastrous to South Africa and all its people.

Finally I would like to reconfirm the following so that there can be no misunderstanding:

• The Afrikanerbond's vision is - As Afrikaners bou ons saam aan die toekoms van Suid-Afrika. As Afrikaners we will build the future of South Africa together. This reconfirms our commitment to South Africa and therefore the Constitution. The Afrikanerbond must therefore not be accused of serving only and exclusively white Afrikaner interests.
• When the Afrikanerbond is critical of certain matters it is not denying black hopes and aspirations. We do it in the interests of South Africa .
• When the Afrikanerbond calls for a national dialogue on the SA constitution ​​it is because we are concerned about the systematic erosion of the constitution, its values ​​and prescripts. The Constitution belongs to all South Africans and the interpretation thereof cannot be monopolised by the ANC.

The Afrikanerbond had meaningful interaction with you and other ANC and government officials  in the past and look forward to further discussions in order to find solutions to the many problems confronting South Africa and its people. This commitment has been given to you several times in the past and we reconfirm it. Any other interpretation of this commitment is not honest.

We look forward to further discussions.

Sincerely yours

Pieter Vorster

Chairperson

Issued by the Afrikanerbond, April 29 2011

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