The African National Congress (ANC) has expressed frustration over the frequent trips to the US by lobby groups AfriForum and Solidarity, which have been accused of peddling misinformation which has resulted in the ongoing diplomatic row between Washington and Pretoria.
Last month, IOL reported that Trump insisted South Africa was "confiscating" land and "treating certain classes of people very badly" as he announced he was cutting off all future funding to the country pending an investigation.
IOL reported in February that Trump also offered to prioritise South African Afrikaners who take up refugee status in the US refugee programme, and the offer was met with thousands of enquiries.
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This week, representatives of AfriForum led by chief executive Kallie Kriel and other organisations have been in the US where they have intensified their lobbying for protection of the Afrikaner community in South Africa following the signing of the Expropriation Act by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Speaking to the SABC, member of the ANC’s national executive committee Donald Selamolela said the frequent trips are damaging South Africa’s reputation.
“As the African National Congress, we are shocked by the continuous attempts of Kallie and his cohort of AfriForum together with their sister organisation Solidarity who are trying everything to tarnish the image of the country that we collectively worked so hard to build as South Africans," said Selamolela.
“We come from a very ugly past, we come from the past of racial discrimination where the minority farmed without even recognising the majority as human beings.
“We do not want to be reminded of that past. We see that every day Kallie and his cohort are doing everything to send a message to South Africans that they are yearning for that past because the very Act (Expropriation Act) that they say they are standing against, which is making them to fly all over … it is meant to redress the past which is a result of efforts of their grandfathers,” he said.
Selamolela added: “It is Kallie’s grandfather and the cohort of the Afrikaners, who today speak as the most noble people on earth.”
IOL reported last month that lobby groups AfriForum and Solidarity have faced unprecedented backlash within South Africa, after Trump unleashed a raft of sanctions against South Africa, including cutting financial aid which benefitted millions of poor individuals.
Sections of South African society are of the view that intensive campaigns initiated by the lobby groups in the US are responsible for Trump’s arbitrary sanctions, while other South Africans vociferously support the lobby groups’ campaigns.
IOL