President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued one of his strongest warnings yet against what he described as coordinated efforts to undermine South Africa’s constitutional democracy, accusing AfriForum and allied forces of sowing the seeds of regime change and threatening national unity.
Ramaphosa made the remarks during the ANC’s January 8 Statement at Moruleng Stadium in the North West, where the governing party gathered for its annual pilgrimage marking 114 years of its existence.
Gunning for AfriForum
He singled out AfriForum for what he described as the persistent promotion of a false narrative that white people are being subjected to genocide in South Africa, warning that such claims pose a serious threat to national cohesion.
Ramaphosa said AfriForum, together with like-minded forces advocating for the cession of the Western Cape, represented a danger to the unity of South Africans.
“There is an increasingly vocal minority in our country that makes common cause with this global attack and actively propagates falsehoods,” said Ramaphosa in the scorching heat of the North West.
“Their aim is to undermine South Africa’s constitutional democracy, non-racialism, non-sexism and the transformation project. They employ multifaceted tactics, including the propagation of blatant falsehoods such as claims of ‘white genocide’, to attract sympathy and solidarity from global racist movements and individuals.
“On the one hand, they form and fund political parties designed to fragment the motive forces of change. On the other hand, they sow the seeds of regime change, establish parallel state structures and foment secessionist tendencies.”
Spreading disinformation
South Africa has increasingly found itself at odds with the United States under President Donald Trump, largely due to the international disinformation campaign spread by AfriForum.
Ramaphosa was confronted directly on the issue by Trump during a state visit to the US last year, when the US president played videos he claimed showed white farmers being killed in South Africa.
Trump later imposed super tariffs on South African exports to the US, a move framed as part of a broader strategy to punish South Africa. His administration also initiated a process to sanction individual ANC leaders.
Against this backdrop, Ramaphosa called on South Africans to unite in defence of the country’s democratic project against what he termed enemies of progress.
“The current conjuncture demands that we build the broadest united front to defend, consolidate and advance the National Democratic Revolution, our constitutional democracy and our status as a sovereign country in the family of nations,” said Ramaphosa.
Aim to defend constitution
“We must defend, consolidate and advance the Constitution and the institutions of our constitutional democracy and ensure that they work for all South Africans.”
He added that there was a need to defend, consolidate and advance the rights of workers, the informal sector, small businesses, farmers and the middle strata.
“We must defend, consolidate and advance quality basic services and the expansion of housing, education, healthcare, electricity, water, sanitation, the social security net, roads, broadband services and infrastructure to millions of South Africans.
“It is our revolutionary duty to defend, consolidate and advance women’s rights, the war on gender-based violence and femicide and the building of a non-sexist South Africa.”
