IMF loan is for South Africa; not a donation for certain politicians – Solidarity Movement

The Solidarity Movement said today that the loan of about R70 billion granted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to South Africa should be used to help the country in the midst of this crisis and should not be regarded as a donation by certain politicians for their own pockets or projects.

This follows certain high-ranking officials who were recently involved with an investigation into corruption and tender fraud regarding the allocation and use of coronavirus emergency funds, and further bailouts to, among others, SAA.

According to Flip Buys, Chair of the Solidarity Movement, loans taken out by a government are ultimately a yoke that a taxpayer must bear to settle the debt. Therefore, the Movement insists that precise information regarding the use of these funds must be made public to ensure transparency. “With an expected government debt exceeding 80% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the year, we cannot afford funds, which is obtained at the highest cost to help South Africa during the crisis, to be hijacked by corrupt cadres, while taxpayers must bear the brunt,” said Buys.

Buys further said that the Movement will soon contact the IMF to ensure that stricter measures and requirements are put in place relating to corruption and bailouts to chronically struggling state enterprises such as SAA, for future loans. “These requirements are not only there to protect the IMF but to protect South African taxpayers and the country against wasting. Regardless of the requirements, if there is no reform taking place which is pro-business and economic growth, South Africa will be caught in a debt trap from which it will struggle to recover,” said Buys.

According to Buys South Africa does not have the luxury of advocating state ideologies such as redistribution that dampers the economy. “The fiscal space is already extremely limited and further deregulation must take place to make it as easy as possible for businesses to do their business and help create jobs,” said Buys.

What is the Solidarity Movement?

The Solidarity Movement, consisting of several institutions and independent partners, has approximately 500 000 families as members and is the largest mainstream Afrikaner organisation and one of the largest organisations in our country.

The main goal of the Movement is to help its people lead a normal life in a normal country. Each of the institutions and individual partners that are part of the Movement, plays a unique role in achieving this goal. Currently, the Movement consists of 21 institutions and 3 independent partners.

 

Member organisations

 

  1. The trade union: Solidarity

Solidarity fulfils the role of a traditional trade union, but at the same time offers a broader Network of Work which any working or prospective working person can join. Due to the constant changes in the workplace, the trade union established Occupational Guilds with the aim of organising people based on their occupation rather than their place of work, and in this way bringing them into contact with other people working in the same occupational field.

 

  1. AfriForum

AfriForum is a non-governmental organisation that aims to protect the rights of minority groups. Although the organisation operates on the internationally recognised principle of minority protection, AfriForum has a specific focus on the rights of Afrikaners as a community at the southern-most tip of Africa. AfriForum is therefore the civil rights leg of the Solidarity Movement.

 

  1. Solidarity Helping Hand

Solidarity Helping Hand is the Movement’s social wing that specifically focus on the development of the Afrikaner community and the creation of a social structure that can meet the demands of vulnerable groups (children, elderly and the disabled). They also try to alleviate urgent and direct need as far as possible and to create opportunities where poverty can be prevented through study and training.

 

  1. FAK

The FAK is one of the oldest cultural organisations – the oldest organisation in the Movement – with the federation already being established in 1929. The FAK is a future-orientated cultural organisation that offers a home for language and culture and promotes the Afrikaner history in a positive way. The FAK aims to be a cultural home for Afrikaners, empowering Afrikaners to proudly live out their identity. They also aim to focus on the development and promotion of the Afrikaans language and Afrikaner culture.

 

Education and training:

 

  1. Sol-Tech Occupational Training College

Sol-Tech is an accredited private occupational training college that are founded on Christian values and uses Afrikaans as medium of instruction.

 

  1. Akademia

Akademia is a Christian world-class higher education institution that plays a leading role in contemporary university life in an open, unfettered and critical way. All this in favour of the Afrikaans language community.

 

  1. Study Fund Centre

The Study Fund Centre (SFC) is a subdivision of Solidarity Helping Hand and has the specific aim to provide interest-free study loans to those in need, thus giving everyone the opportunity to complete their tertiary studies. The SFC forms part of Helping Hand’s strategy to not only alleviate poverty, but to break it by giving people the opportunity to receive further education and training.

 

  1. Support Centre for Schools

The Support Centre for Schools (SCS) is a private training institution focused on the professional and personal development of teachers in South Africa, the protection of Afrikaans schools’ rights and the development of solutions to problems teachers face in general. The SCS aims to establish healthy, sustainable, scalable, Christian, Afrikaans schools of world quality by firstly maintaining those which already exists, and secondly, building that which is needed now.

 

  1. Wolkskool

Wolkskool is the most important and largest product of the innovation team at the SCS. Wolkskool is a complete online school that is supplementary and enriching to existing schools and can be used at places where quality education in Afrikaans is under pressure. The ultimate goal of Wolkskool is to offer a complete digital Afrikaans school curriculum, which covers all grades and subjects.

 

  1. S-leer

S-leer is a subdivision of the trade union Solidarity and serves as a centre for continuous learning and development to help the working professional reach his or her career goals. S-leer forms part of Solidarity’s core business, namely labour relations, skills development and the broader Network of Work. S-leer serves as primary service provider for the Solidarity Occupational Guilds and offers their members the opportunity to develop their abilities and skills in such a way that they can get and maintain a good job, and thus live free, safe and prosperous.

 

  1. De Goede Hoop

De Goede Hoop is a private Afrikaans Christian residence for male and female students studying at the University of Pretoria. The residence was established by AfriForum in 2017. De Goede Hoop was established to serve as a cultural institution that offers accommodation to all students who are comfortable within the Afrikaans community.

 

Language and culture:

 

  1. Maroela Media

Maroela Media is an Afrikaans media house that strives to serve the Afrikaans community with news and other content that is of the highest quality and which is reliable and balanced. Maroela Media is not only the biggest Afrikaans digital platform, but also the largest Afrikaans media community of all media formats – digital, newspapers, magazines, television and radio included. Currently, Maroela has just more than 2 million unique readers per month and they are still growing.

 

  1. Forum Films

Forum Films is a full-spectrum production house for television, film, animation and full-length films. Forum Films launched by AfriForum, was officially launched on 30 August 2016, with the idea of it already being born in 2012. Forum Films is also seen as an important means of regaining ownership of our history and normalising it. One of the core objectives of Forum Films is therefore to help promote the Afrikaans language and the Afrikaner culture.

 

  1. Kraal Publishers

Kraal Publishers is a small, yet specialised publishing company that mainly focuses on the publication of quality non-fiction books that contribute to valuable debates regarding politics, history, cultural and social issues in the country within the Afrikaner community or among a specific target audience. This publishing house existed in 1999 during the 100-year anniversary of the Anglo-Boer War and initially focused on publishing collectors’ books on this war.

 

Funds, trusts and mobilising of capital:

 

  1. Solidarity Legal Fund

The Solidarity Legal Fund is the first of two funds managed and administered by the trade union, Solidarity. This fund specifically aims to oppose policies, projects or decisions by government, usually not in favour of the interests of minorities, through specific legal action. Although the Legal Fund places particular emphasis on opposing policies that are harmful to minorities – such as the BBBEE policy – the union often tackles cases that are not only in the interest of members and minorities, but also in the interest of the broader public.

 

  1. Solidarity Building Fund

The Solidarity Building Fund is the second fund managed and administrated by the trade union Solidarity. The Solidarity Movement is building a better society and better future for future generations. The Solidarity Building Fund is one of the ways in which the future is being built quite literally. This is done through contributions made to the Building Fund which funds the establishment of various cultural infrastructures.

 

  1. History fund

The History Fund is under management of the FAK. The History Fund specifically aims to contribute to the supports, preservation and normalisation of Afrikaner history. The FAK established the History Fund in 2016 in support of the series of history projects launched by the FAK in that year, which focused on the protection and preservation of Afrikaner history.

 

  1. Virseker Trust

The Virseker Trust resulted from a collaboration between Virseker, as part of Auto & General, and the Solidarity Movement where representatives of Solidarity serves as trustees. The purpose of the Virseker Trust is to give Afrikaners the opportunity to invest in specific training projects for the Afrikaans community by making use of a service in the private sector. The Virseker Trust is thus looking to mobilise Afrikaner purchasing power.

 

  1. De Kock Trust

The Arend Josias de Kock trust was established in 1863 with the birth of Arend Josias de Kock and officially registered in January 1998 by his grandson. This trust was initially established by Arend Josias de Kock for the purpose of not using the family’s money for their own gain, but rather to invest it in a trust that aims to assist the Afrikaner community through donations to specific community projects.

 

  1. Campus Trust

The Campus trust aims to be a donation fund that focuses specifically on the establishment of Afrikaans educational institutions. More specifically, the trust focuses on providing a sustainable model for recruiting, expanding and utilising donations for the education and training institutions of the Solidarity Movement – including Akademia, Sol-Tech and the Support Centre for Schools.

 

  1. Kanton Investments

Kanton is the investment company for properties established by the Solidarity Movement. The properties of the Solidarity Movement will serve as bases of the portfolio that will be expanded further through development. Kanton is a partnership between culture and capital and focus on providing sustainable property solutions at a good opbrengs to institutions in the Afrikaans community so that they can reach their goals. Kanton has the goals to create within the partnership between culture and capital, physical living spaces wherein Afrikaans can flourish.

 

Independent partners:

 

  1. Saai

The South African Agri Initiative (Saai) is an agricultural interest network for farmers through farmers, committed to protecting and promoting the rights, values, ideals and needs of family farmers in the primary production sector. As a network of interests, Saai plays an active role in the implementation of effective strategic solutions to agricultural problems that farmers experience on a daily basis and intends not to simply rely on the hope of policy influence.

 

  1. Pretoria FM

Pretoria FM, formerly known as Radio Pretoria, is an independent and community-based radio station located in Pretoria, South Africa. The range of Pretoria FM’s broadcast towers is about 2 million Afrikaans speakers. Pretoria FM is at the steering of numerous projects promoting the Afrikaans language community and the Afrikaner cultural community.

Promotion of private mother tongue education ratified by Chief Justice – Solidarity Movement 

The Solidarity Movement today confirmed that it will accelerate its plans to establish educational institutions with Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. This follows after the MEC of Education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, in the National Council of Provinces (NCP) criticised a full bench of the Court of Appeal’s ruling on Afrikaans at Unisa. In the same speech, he also criticised Solidarity’s existing private institutions.

According to the Chiarperson of the Solidarity Movement, Flip Buys, the Constitutional Court, by mouth of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, in its ruling in the Stellenbosch language case, called on the community to build private educational institutions themselves, for the advancement of Afrikaans and other indigenous languages, in terms of section 29(3) of the Constitution. Chief Justice Mogoeng even called on corporate goodwill to make resources available to help fund private educational institutions for Afrikaans and other indigenous languages.

“Chief Justive Mogoeng’s request that communities must build their own institutions and finance it themselves to promote language is thus exactly what the Movement is doing within the framework of the Constitution,” said Buys. He emphasised that Chief Justice Mogoeng’s ruling builds on several similar views by the Constitutional Court in favour of Afrikaans and Afrikaans institutions for higher education.

“Super language”
According to Buys, it is ironic that during the NCP debate, Lesufi warned there should be no “super language” and that all languages should be equal, while deliberately and zealously continuing to undermine recognised indigenous languages so that English continues to exist as the only “super language” as medium of instruction at educational institutions. “The Solidarity Movement, unlike the MEC, advocates the principle of multilingualism and therefore encourages any community to promote their language by establishing educational institutions. The Movement is also willing to work with any community to achieve this,” said Buys.

He also emphasised that the Movement’s educational institutions aims to be world-class in Afrikaans. “The aim is not to exclude others or isolate Afrikaans students, but to create an Afrikaans space where it is possible for young people to live together in South Africa to the benefit of all its people and the country. The goal is also not to exclude, but to ensure that Afrikaans as academic language and Afrikaans students are included. These institutions are also open to any student who does not speak Afrikaans as mother tongue but who would like to study in Afrikaans.

Cultural infrastructure 
The International Law and the Constitution’s point of departure is that language and cultural communities have the right to exist and to survive, and they may have institutions that carries its language and culture over to the next generation. Any attempt to deny them this right, is a totalitarian attempt to destroy those communities. Therefore, the Solidarity Movement’s educational institutions are part of our strategy to build the necessary cultural infrastructure needed for Afrikaners to live free, safe and prosperous in South Africa. The Constitution’s point of departure is exactly unity in diversity, and therefore efforts to enforce uniformity or to incorporate minorities into the majority, will be opposed with all force.

“Democracy without cultural freedom, is only freedom for the demographic majority and thus not democratic. Therefore, activist politicians who are trying to transform the multicultural reality of the country to a monocultural ideology fitting their political image, may not be allowed to conduct a witch hunt against Afrikaans and its speakers for the sake of cheap publicity. It is a transparent attempt to divert attention from the major educational crisis in the country, in which Mr. Lesufi has a huge share,” Buys said

Gauteng graves: Movement calls for investigation of possible tender irregularities

The Solidarity Movement today called for urgent investigation into possible irregularities regarding the issuing of any tenders to dig graves in Gauteng. This comes after it was revealed that the Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Bandile Masuku, in preparation on Covid-19 deaths, identified space for approximately 1,5 million graves and started digging it.

Flip Buys, Head of the Solidarity Movement, says that although the increase of Covid-19 deaths in this province should not be taken lightly, the assumption that there must be prepared for 1,5 million deaths – three times more than that of the entire world thus far – in this province alone, is absolutely absurd. “The first predictions which prompted South Africa to impose a national lockdown, estimated that the country in its entirety could have, at worst, 351 000 deaths due to Covid-19. However, these predictions were made before much was known about the virus and the trends. The Department of Health, in collaboration with medical experts’ own predictions was later adjusted to a possible worst-case scenario of 48 000 deaths nationwide by November this year. This possible worst-case scenario is far removed from what the Gauteng government now outlines for the single province,” said Buys.

According to Buys, this action by the Gauteng Health MEC raises many questions. “If the Department of Health itself predicts that South Africa could have, at worst, 48 000 deaths nationwide, it is outrageous to think that Gauteng should prepare itself for 1,5 million deaths, which make up about 10% of the province’s total population. Due to the massive difference between what is being predicted by the Department and what the Gauteng government is preparing for, it is extremely important to thoroughly investigate this project and the possible tenders associated with it,” said Buys.

According to Buys, actions such as these may lead to unnecessary panic and anxiety in the province while it is by no means based on any facts. “If the MEC predicts that there will be so many deaths in the Gauteng province he must be able to substantiate it by disclosing empirical facts. If not, he is acting irresponsibly,” said Buys.

Buys concluded that the Gauteng government’s seeming response to the pandemic is cynical seeing that they are rather providing mass graves instead of hospital beds. “The initial reason for the lockdown was to add more hospital beds, yet with more than 100 days in lockdown only approximately 400 hospital beds were added,” said Buys.

Solidarity Movement launches global campaign against discriminatory government policy  

The Solidarity Movement has launched an international campaign to apply pressure to the South African government to oppose racial discrimination in the allocation of government funds in the fight against the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a letter to overseas governments and international organisations, the Movement calls for a strong stance against the application of any form of racial discrimination when relief measures are allocated to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, an international campaign is necessary because the government does not heed the pleas of several civil organisations and political parties. “Today, we have called on various overseas governments and organisations to not only take a stand against the alarming events of the past weeks, but also to take steps, within their powers, against the South African government. We have already spoken with politicians in various European countries, and we expect pressure to increase on the South African government.”

In its letter, the Movement refers to Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Nguabane’s Tourism Relief Fund for small enterprises in the tourism industry, as well as the decision by Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to apply racial requirements when granting financial aid to small businesses.

In addition, the Solidarity Movement is concerned about what it describes as a police state developing in South Africa. According to Buys, the use of force and intimidation by the South African Police Service and the National Defence Force is worrying, and the Movement will make the outside world aware of this as well.

A third point the Movement refers to in its letter to overseas stakeholders is the restrictions regarding the aid provided by community organisations. “We are currently also making overseas governments and organisations aware of the draconian nature of South Africa’s lockdown measures. Certain measures, which do not contribute to the fight against the virus, are enforced in a draconian way. These measures all indicate a general over-regulation of civil society that encroaches upon people’s dignity and rights.”

The Solidarity Movement asks that other countries, especially the US and European countries, put pressure on the South African government to refrain from implementing unacceptable discriminatory practices and measures. The Movement has written letters to the governments of more than 30 countries, as well as to organisations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Solidarity Movement wants to head to the Constitutional Court over lockdown

The Solidarity Movement today said that it is consulting with senior lawyers in order to head to the Constitutional Court and ask  the court to compel government to devolve the current national lockdown to a regional level.

According to the Movement, there is no reason why in certain regions the persistent, irrational lockdown measures currently in force in South Africa cannot be relaxed to Level 1 as soon as possible. According to the Oxford Government Response Stringency Index, South Africa is currently one of the countries with the harshest lockdown measures.

This comes after it has become increasingly clear that South Africa has already achieved the potential benefit that could be derived from a lockdown and that a further protracted lockdown will not supress the virus’s infection rate but will result in more people being unemployed and finding themselves at the mercy of others. The Movement posited that although the virus has not reached its peak yet, the lockdown in its current format will not prevent it from peaking.

According to Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, the ANC is sabotaging people’s jobs with this lockdown. “It appears that government’s proposed fragmentation of the lockdown into different regions and provinces was merely lip service. It is inconceivable that the Limpopo and North West Province, which respectively have 17 and 29 active cases province wide, are still on Level 4 of the lockdown. Furthermore, Mpumalanga has 33 and the Northern Cape 12 active cases, while people across those provinces cannot go to work to provide food for their children,” Buys said.

According to Buys, it made no sense to have the entire country or even entire provinces in such a hard lockdown. Realistically, the lockdown in provinces with a low infection rate can be relaxed to Level 1 and they can merely be monitored. “The idea behind the lockdown was to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. An approach that is more federalist in nature will still achieve this goal as the virus moves through different regions,” Buys said.

Buys emphasised that the time has come to relax the measures urgently so that where the infection rate is lower as many people as possible could be allowed to return to work safely. “People can no longer be prevented from taking care of their families. Returning to work must be done while priority is given to safety and hygiene in the workplace,” Buys concluded.

Solidarity Movement welcomes phasing out of lockdown 

The Solidarity Movement welcomes the process of phasing out the lockdown but believes the regulations should have been relaxed more so that people who can perform their work in a healthy way could return to work. If this does not happen it would be a case of “too little too late”, and there is the danger that government may let many people die of famine in its attempt to prevent the virus from killing people.

The Movement also welcomes the fact that many of our proposals appear in government’s new regulations as such proposals are in line with best practices that have been successful in other countries. Among others, this includes measures to promote healthy work as well as smart restrictions that will focus on those parts that are worse off during the epidemic.

Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, says the biggest mistake government is making is to think that the state, instead of the private sector can kickstart the economy again. The South African state cannot afford to get the wheels of the country’s economy turning again through large monetary injections as is the case in rich countries.

That is why the only solution is to free the private sector to pump large amounts of money into the economy. Such money should be obtained by dramatically easing taxes for the next year, selling loss-making public enterprises, cutting government spending, and raising the subsistence allowance for the poor for the next year.

Investor confidence

At the same time, government must urgently restore investor confidence to attract capital to the country by doing away with harmful policies and by prosecuting state capturers who, so far, have gone scot-free. Policies that need to be abandoned in the national interest are expropriation without compensation, the planned nationalisation of health care and talk of using pension money to subsidise loss-making enterprises. The racial and transformation prerequisites for state assistance are also divisive and discriminatory and should be relaxed as a matter of urgency. It is a pity that AfriForum and Solidarity had to bring court cases against these practices instead of government itself realising that a state of disaster is not a time to discriminate on the grounds of race.

The first three weeks of lockdown were necessary to halt the spread of the virus and to prepare the country’s health system for a large increase in sick people, but many of the lockdown regulations were unnecessary and aggravated the pandemic crisis by plunging the country into a bigger economic crisis.

By all indications, the Covid-19 epidemic will be with us for quite some time to come and thousands will get sick because of it. The fight against it is a marathon rather than a sprint and the country will need economic resources to finance this protracted battle. That is why it is so vitally important that Solidarity’s proposals on how all people, and not just essential workers, can return to work in a healthy way be implemented nationwide. Buys also emphasised that neighbourhood watch organisations should be allowed to help protect their local communities in partnership with the police.

The epidemic remains a serious threat and the phasing out of the lockdown does not mean that people can carry on with their lives as before but that there will be a new “normal” whereby everyone will have to look after each other’s well-being by maintaining social distancing and certain health protocols. It remains important to still protect people with underlying conditions, while the state must enhance its ability to test for the virus, to detect it and to treat sick people in collaboration with the private sector.

Finally, the Movement emphasises that decentralisation in dealing with the virus is essential for success in the battle against it. “The fragmented approach according to which different provinces can phase lockdown out at different levels is a welcome first step,” Buys said.

Imperative that universities continue their programme offer – Solidarity Movement

The Solidarity Movement today called on public universities to proceed without delay with their planned online programme and not to let obstacles that can be overcome derail the academic programme.

This call comes amid universities such as the NWU, UP and other training institutions that have yet again postponed the start of online classes out of concern that not all students will have equal access to technology.

According to Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, it is not a solution to hold back all students because university administrations are concerned that some students will fall behind.

The solution is rather to start online classes as a matter of urgency and to then implement special measures to help those students who do not have access to the right technology. It does not help to prejudice the vast majority of students for fear that the minority will not have access to the classes. Although administrations argue that online classes will be exclusionary, the vast majority of students who do have access are now being excluded by the postponement of classes.

Thousands of lecturers and support staff have worked tirelessly over the past month to get the classes online while students have prepared themselves for classes that were supposed to start this week. Those people now had to find out that university administrations have decided unilaterally to postpone classes until May.

The prolonged lockdown has already resulted in enormous disruptions of university activities, and now university administrations are extending it even further. It is already much more difficult to study online instead of attending regular classes, and the postponement will inevitably lead to even greater challenges for students and lecturers.

Therefore, the solution is that classes should resume as soon as possible, and then extra classes and programmes could be set up after hours to assist students when the lockdown period is over.

“However, it is gratifying to see that some universities are already making plans to accommodate students by making certain websites available for free, setting up refund initiatives on data, and approaching the community for donations of computers and other devices,” Buys said.

Meanwhile, at the private higher education institution Akademia classes are continuing as usual, and students who experience problems with access to technology and data receive assistance.

Movement’s crisis fund exceeds the R3 million mark – Community donates their “two chickens”

The crisis fund launched by the Solidarity Movement to assist communities during the Covid-19 crisis, already exceeded the R3 million mark on the morning of 9 April.

This comes after the Movement launched a joint helpmekaar day on 7 April, where institutions such as Solidarity, Helping Hand, AfriForum, the FAK, Akademia and the School Support Centre joined forces to make the fund as strong as possible.

According to Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive Officer of Solidarity, this action reminds us of the help each other actions of almost a hundred years ago, where ordinary people contributed and worked together to alleviate common needs.

Everyone was in need, but everyone weighed in and started to help. A farmer who was broke donated two chickens with the message: “… ik is geheel uitgeboer en dit is alles wat ik kan gee.” (I’m down and out and this is all I can give.)

 

Hermann’s message was: “All of us are going to be uncertain. All of us are going to suffer more, and that is why we must help each other. It is time for us to work together and carry this load together. It is time for us to give our two chickens.”

According to Francois Redelinghuys, Communications Manager of the Solidarity Movement, the organisation has been overwhelmed and delighted by the incredible support this fund has received from the business community and ordinary people over the past two days. “All kinds of donations were made from various places. From large donations by the Virseker Trust and Sakeliga, to small donations from ordinary people which together makes a huge difference,” said Redelinghuys.

This fund, in particular, will be used by Solidarity Helping Hand to assist defenceless people such as the elderly and children, who are exposed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Furthermore, the fund will also be used to ensure that children attending schools can continue seamlessly with their education by means of the Wolkskool platform, made available to learners free of charge by the School Support Centre.

“The crisis is not over yet, and the peak is yet to come. Thus, the Movement will do anything in its power to help alleviate the need. This fund will become a beacon of hope for our communities,” said Redelinghuys.

Donations can be made by clicking on the following link: www.krisisfonds.co.za

Solidarity Movement host a joined helpmekaar day

Today, 7 April 2020, the Solidarity Movement will host an online helpmekaar day. The purpose of the day is to launch a huge helpmekaar (to help each other) effort by harnessing the power of the community to help people in social distress, to support businesses, and to help children so they can continue with school during these uncertain times. This day will be to the benefit of the Solidarity Movement’s emergency fund.

According to Flip Buys, Head of the Solidarity Movement, the Movement is founded on being a helpmekaar movement and communities must now stand together amidst the corona crisis. “This is the beginning of a helpmekaar (help each other) attempt. In the times ahead, we will need to help one another, and the Movement will harness all its institutions to achieve this,” said Buys.

According to Hannes Noëth, Managing Director of Solidarity Helping Hand, the social distress caused by the coronavirus is already and communities must now stand together to cope and deal with this crisis. The organisation is inundated with requests and is already helping thousands of pre-schoolers, families and elderly to receive food and other help daily. According to Noëth the organisation already spent R753 739 on emergency funding in March, which is why strengthening of the emergency fund is essential.

According to Dirk Hermann, Chief Executive Officer of Solidarity, the crisis has not reached its peak yet. Meanwhile, 53 000 learners have already registered on the School Support Centre’s Wolkskool, to continue with their education online. “Government will not carry us through this crisis, we are going to have to carry each other. Although we are all uncertain, we must help each other. It is time for us to work together and to carry each other because we cannot allow vulnerable people and children to be left behind in this time,” said Hermann.

On the helpmekaar day, the community will also be called upon to help small and medium enterprises. According to Kallie Kriel, Chief Executive Officer of AfriForum, the best help for businesses lies in the purchasing power of consumers. Thousands of enterprises has already registered with AfriForum’s network at www.afriforumnetwerk.co.za. Enterprises are encouraged to register here so that people can be encouraged to buy from them.

Supporters can contribute to the emergency fund, here.

Enterprises can register here on the AfriForum network.

 

 

 

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History Fund

A fund to help promote the history of the Afrikaner.

FAK

The Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations was established back in 1929. Today, this Federation is still the organisation that allows Afrikaans-speaking people to be creative in their language and culture. It is a future-orientated cultural organisation offering a home for the Afrikaans language and culture and is proudly promoting the Afrikaner history in a positive way.

Solidarity Helping Hand

Solidarity Helping Hand focuses on social wellbeing and the organisation’s larger vision is to find solutions to address Afrikaner poverty.

Solidarity Helping Hand’s calling is to solve poverty through community development. Solidarity Helping Hand believes people have a responsibility towards each other and towards the community.

Solidarity Helping Hand is based on the ideas of the Afrikaner Helpmekaar* Movement of 1949, placing a specific focus on “help”, “togetherness” and “mutuality”.

*Helpmekaar, meaning to aid one another

Forum Sekuriteit

Forum Sekuriteit was founded to provide a leading, dynamic and effective security service in South Africa, thereby increasing safety in communities.

AfriForumTV

AfriForumTV is a digital platform that is online and free of charge, offering visual content to members and non-members. Subscribers can explore various channels on their television set, computer or cell phone in the comfort of their own home by using the AfriForum TV App. AfriForumTV is yet another communication strategy to make the public aware of AfriForum news and events, but also to offer entertainment in the form of movies and fiction and reality series. This content will be provided by AfriForum TV itself, institutions within the Solidarity Movement and external content providers.

AfriForum Uitgewers

AfriForum Uitgewers (voorheen bekend as Kraal Uitgewers) is die trotse uitgewershuis van die Solidariteit Beweging en die tuiste van Afrikaanse niefiksie, Afrikanergeskiedenis én prima Afrikaanse produkte. Dié uitgewer het tydens die 100 jaar-herdenking van die Anglo-Boereoorlog in 1999 ontstaan en aanvanklik gefokus op die publikasie van versamelaarsboeke oor dié oorlog.

AfriForum Youth

AfriForum Youth is the official youth section of AfriForum, the civil rights initiative that forms part of the Solidarity Movement. AfriForum Youth is based on Christian principles and our goal is to promote independence among young Afrikaners and influence the realities in South Africa by launching campaigns and actively taking a stand for young people’s civil rights. AfriForum Youth’s essence includes the acquisition of cultural freedom and the expansion of the Christian democratic ideological framework.

De Goede Hoop student residence

De Goede Hoop is a modern, Afrikaans student residence that maintains high standards. It is situated in Pretoria.

De Goede Hoop offers a home to dynamic students with Christian values and a passion for Afrikaans; a home where you as a young person can share in healthy student traditions and live your student life to the full in self-confidence and to do so in Afrikaans.

Study Fund Centre

THE HELPING HAND STUDY TRUST (HHST) is an initiative of Solidarity Helping Hand and is a registered public charitable organisation that makes it possible for indigent Afrikaans students to study by granting interest-free study loans to them.

At the moment, the HHST manages more than 200 independent study funds on behalf of various donors and has already made it possible for more than 6 300 indigent students to study by having granted financial aid totalling R238 million.

S-leer

Solidarity’s centre for continued learning is a training institution that offers continuing professional development to professionals. S-leer aims to assist working people to achieve their career goals through seminars, short courses, and by offering discussion opportunities and e-learning opportunities in which relevant themes are discussed and presented.

Solidarity Youth

Solidarity Youth prepares young people for the labor market, stands up for their interests and help them to join the Network of Work. Solidarity Youth is a tool to help young people with career choices and is a home for young people.

Solidarity Legal Fund

A fund to oppose the unlawful implementation of affirmative action.

Solidarity Building Fund

A fund specifically aimed at building Solidarity’s training institutions.

Solidarity Financial Services (SFS)

SFS is an authorised financial services company that forms part of the Solidarity Movement. This institution’s vision is to promote the future financial wellbeing, financial security and sustainability of Afrikaans individuals and businesses. SFS does so by offering competitive financial services and products that are available in Afrikaans, while also offering excellent service, all with a view to a greater cause.

Our centre

The Community Structures Division currently consists of two medical support projects and three community centres, namely Ons Plek in the Strand, Derdepoort and Volksrust. The three community centres were established to provide safe kindergarten and/or after-school care in the respective communities. The community centres are currently accommodating a total of 158 children in the respective after-school centres, while Ons Plek in the Strand has 9 pre-school children and Ons Plek in Volksrust has 16 pre-school children in the pre-primary school.

Support Centre for Schools (SCS)

The vision of the Support Centre for Schools (SCS) is to (help) ensure the future of Christian, Afrikaans education by helping to maintain quality education where it already exists and by helping to create new capacity where it is needed.

The SCS’s goal is to assist every Afrikaans medium school in the country to continue to offer world-class education in the future that keeps in pace with the latest research and international best practices.

Sol-Tech

Sol-Tech is an accredited, private vocational training college that is founded on Christian values and uses Afrikaans as medium of instruction.

Sol-Tech focuses on vocational training that leads to the acquisition of nationally recognised, useful qualifications. The qualification students obtain from Sol-Tech serves as a basis for further study and ultimately to obtain a recognised engineering qualification. Sol-Tech therefore has as its aim to realise young people’s future dreams as far as career development is concerned and does so through goal-specific training. Sol-Tech wants to be there today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to provide a service to young people.

Akademia

Akademia is a Christian higher education institution that plays a leading, open-minded and critical role in the current day university system.

Akademia strives to provide an academic home where both the mind and the heart are shaped with a view to a meaningful and free future.

Akademia is building on from what we have received from the past to pass it on to the next generation in a better condition.

AfriForum Publishers

AfriForum Uitgewers (previously known as Kraal Uitgewers) is the proud publishing house of the Solidarity Movement and is the home of Afrikaans non-fiction, products related to the Afrikaner’s history, as well as other prime Afrikaans products. The publisher recently shifted its focus and will only publish internal publications of the Solidarity Movement from now on.

Maroela Media

Maroela Media is an Afrikaans internet news hub where you can read everything about what matters in your world – whether you live in South Africa or live elsewhere and want to be part of the Afrikaans Maroela community. Maroela Media’s Christian character is at the heart of its editorial policy.

Kanton Investment Company

Kanton is a property investment company established by the Solidarity Movement. The Solidarity Movement’s properties form the basis of the portfolio that will be further expanded through development.

Kanton is a partnership between culture and capital and focuses on providing sustainable property solutions at a good return to institutions in the Afrikaans community so that they can achieve their goals.

Wolkskool

Wolkskool, a cloud-based school, is a product of the Support Centre for Schools (SCS), a non-profit organisation comprising a team of education experts, that strives to help ensure quality education through medium of Afrikaans. Wolkskool offers a platform where learners have 24-hour access to video classes, exam papers, worksheets with memorandums and online assessments.

Ajani

Ajani is a registered private company that offers placement opportunities to artisan students in particular.

Begrond Instituut

The Begrond Institute is a Christian research institute that assists the Afrikaans language and culture community in obtaining biblical answers to important life questions.

Sakeliga

An independent business organisation

Pretoria FM en Klankkoerant

A community-based radio station and news service

Saai

An agricultural network for family farmers that strives to look after the interests of family farmers by protecting and promoting their rights.

Our shop’

Ons Winkels is Solidarity Helping Hand’s donation shops. There are 120 shops nationwide where members of the public can donate second-hand items such as furniture, kitchenware, linen and clothing. The shops receive the donations and sell high quality items at affordable prices to the public.

AfriForum

AfriForum is a civil rights organisation that mobilises Afrikaners, Afrikaans-speaking people and other minority groups in South Africa and protects their rights.

AfriForum is a non-governmental organisation – registered as a non-profit company – with the aim of protecting the rights of minorities. While the organisation functions according to the internationally-recognised principle of the protection of minorities, AfriForum specifically focuses on the rights of Afrikaners as a community living on the southernmost tip of the continent. Membership is not exclusive, and any person who can associate themselves with the contents of the organisation’s Civil Rights Manifest may join.