Johannesburg - The African People’s Convention (APC) has slammed AfriForum leader Ernst Roets, saying he lacked insight into the suffering of black people under apartheid.
This comes after Roets’ tweet at the weekend, venting his frustration regarding freedom of speech in South Africa, the expropriation of land and the alleged victimisation of white locals.
“It is now clear the ANC’s critique of race laws before 1994 was only a power move and not a genuine condemnation of race discrimination. The ANC called apartheid a crime against humanity due to race laws, expropriation of property, and double standards with regard to freedom of belief and freedom of speech. Now they’re violating all these things they once claimed to champion,” Roets said.
The tweet rubbed the APC’s leader, Themba Godi, the wrong way. Godi said it was clear the leadership of AfriForum did not understand how destructive apartheid was to black families and the aspirations of African people.
“I found these statements provocative and insensitive to black people. It is typical of white attitudes that you cannot compare the suffering of Africans with the legislation passed to correct the wrongs of the past,” Godi said.
Godi said organisations such as AfriForum represented the interests of a minority of white South Africans who were still unapologetic about the crimes committed against black people.
“It was their leader who said he was not aware that apartheid was a crime against humanity; it was a cruel and dehumanising system.
“They have no willingness to reciprocate the kindness and goodwill that the natives of this country have shown them. They sort of brush off any concentration of the pain suffered by the African people,” Godi said.
Expropriation of land was an important step in restoring dignity to the African people, Godi said. He blamed the ANC for the slow process, but said the APC would be pushing the matter to the top of the agenda for their manifesto for the 2024 elections.
“The ANC for 30 years has failed in this project, and the reason that AfriForum is saying these things is to frustrate the process. They need to remember where their fathers got that land from,” Godi said.
Roets told The Star that he believed there were too many laws in South Africa that discriminated against white people. He said he would not apologise for his tweet. According to him, not even the majority of black people were benefiting from some of the measures that the government was taking to correct the wrongs of the past.
“There’s nothing wrong with my tweet; there is nothing wrong. What I am saying is that there is double standards. They are certainly oppressive to the minorities; there are more than 100 race laws in this country,” he said.
The Star