DA attacks white Afrikaners linked to Solidarity and Afriforum

DA stalwart and former party leader, John Steenhuisen, said that white Afrikaners linked to Solidarity, Afriforum, Saai, and Sakeliga don’t share the party’s values.

The former Minister of Agriculture shared his views on these groups during an interview with News24’s Adriaan Basson.

He made many explosive allegations, including labelling the conservative white Afrikaner groups nationalists, tribalists, and racists.

“Saai, AfriForum, Sakelika, and the others have really been running a concerted campaign against me since I became the Minister of Agriculture,” he said.

“My worry is that there is a grouping that wants to bend the knee continuously to appease the AfriForum crew.”

Steenhuisen argued that it was not the right way to grow the Democratic Alliance’s vote, especially when it is looking to gain support among black voters.

“These are not people who share our values. They are nationalists; they are tribalists; they are, in some instances, racists,” he said.

“You don’t win the political argument or take your party forward by appeasing those people. They don’t share your values and principles.”

He warned that if the DA keeps trying to dance to their tune, eventually the signal it sends to others is that the party is not serious about them.

“The message is, oh well, these guys are not really serious about us, and they’re just interested in going after these conservative white voters,” he said.

He also referred to the grouping as AfriMAGA, a derogatory term linking Afrikaner civil society groups and Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.

The term is typically used by political critics as a negative label to describe right-wing, conservative, or populist Afrikaner interest groups.

“My worry is that if we bend the knee to the AfriMAGA crew, you dilute the DA’s principles and play on the same wicket as these guys,” he said.

“They do not share our values and do not subscribe to the liberal philosophy, outlook, and tradition that the DA has proudly championed since the sixties.”

Steenhuisen is not alone. Ryan Coetzee, whom DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis appointed to manage the party’s ministerial caucus, made a similar comment.

“AfriMaga, as we call them, is enraged that South Africa’s most successful city is run by a liberal who celebrates Pride, for instance. It drives them nuts,” he said.

The DA risks alienating a large group of white Afrikaners

Many critics warned that Steenhuisen and other DA officials’ attack on the conservative white Afrikaner groupings could hurt the party.

Professor Koos Malan, a constitutional jurist and Professor Emeritus of Public Law at the University of Pretoria, is one of the critics.

He wrote in The Common Sense that it is a dubious strategy for Steenhuisen to try to belittle his opponents with the AfriMAGA label.

“It appears clear that Steenhuisen has not thought the strategy through clearly at all,” Malan wrote in the column.

He said that the so-called AfriMAGAs are an indispensable voting bloc for the Democratic Alliance.

They are also an essential community for instantiating the real de facto constitutionalism that keeps the country stable.

Freedom Front Plus leader, Corne Mulder, objected to Steenhuisen labelling this segment of the population as nationalists, traditionalists, or racists.

He said the term AfriMAGA is derogatory, alienating a large segment of the population that forms part of the DA’s support base.

“The important point that Steenhuisen made is that the Democratic Alliance cannot afford to pander toward the AfriForum and Solidarity kind of grouping,” he said.

However, Mulder highlighted, the former DA leader went further when he referred to Afri-Nationalists in general.

“By doing that, he is referring to a very large segment of our population that supports Judeo-Christian principles and sees themselves as conservative,” he said.

Mulder argued that Steenhuisen is making a vital mistake. “He’s thinking in terms of race instead of thinking in terms of values,” Mulder said.

This, he said, positions the DA as a liberal party that will not bend the knee or reach out to what he calls the ‘AfriMaga Crew’.