Category: Press Releases

The Virseker Trust announced that it will donate R1 million to the Solidarity Movement’s emergency fund. The fund’s goal is primarily to help children and the elderly with emergency feeding projects and to see to it that learners continue their education during the Covid-19 crisis thanks to the Schools Support Centre’s e-learning platform, Wolkskool.

Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, welcomed the donation. “We are very concerned about the social crisis that will develop as a result of the corona crisis. Children and the elderly are often hit hardest. The income of so many people has been reduced overnight. We are calling on larger and smaller businesses to help, and to those who are already helping, such as the Virseker Trust, we want to say a big thank you,” Buys said..

According to Hannes Noëth, Solidarity Helping Hand’s executive director, a social crisis follows in the wake of an economic crisis. Before the Covid-19 crisis Helping Hand was already supporting 8 000 preschoolers thanks to its Lunchbox Project, an emergency nutrition project. This number is now increasing daily and Helping Hand is inundated with requests for help to vulnerable groups. In March alone, we spent R753 739 on emergency projects, which is why it is essential to boost the emergency fund.

Solidarity Helping Hand has established donation points for non-perishable food nationwide. These points are called Joseph’s Silos. Thousands of people and specifically children who have previously received help from Solidarity Helping Hand’s nutrition project will benefit from this initiative. Such help will be provided by Helping Hand’s countrywide network of offices and branches.

Half of the Virseker Trust’s donation will be allocated to social assistance, and specifically the Joseph’s Silos. The other half will be allocated to the further development of the e-learning platform, Wolkskool, to ensure that children do not fall behind with their schoolwork. A total of 53 000 learners have already registered for Wolkskool during the Covid-19 crisis time.

On 7 April the Solidarity Movement will organise a huge Helpmekaar Day in the spirit of helping each other in aid of the Solidarity Movement’s emergency fund.

Dirk Hermann, Solidarity’s chief executive, challenged the community to donate at least a rand for each rand Virseker has donated. “We dare not allow our vulnerable groups and children to suffer during the crisis. We must still the hunger for food and help as well as the hunger for knowledge,” Hermann said.

On the Helpmekaar Day an appeal will also be made to the community to assist small and medium businesses. According to AfriForum Chief Executive Kallie Kriel, the best help for businesses lies in the buying power of consumers. Thousands of businesses have already registered with AfriForum’s business network at afriforumnetwerk.co.za. Businesses are encouraged to register with the network so that people can be encouraged to buy from them.

Donations can be made at www.helpendehand.co.za, www.afriforum.co.za, or at www.krisisfonds.co.za

 

The Solidarity Movement’s emergency fund is audited by Solidarity Helping Hand’s auditors and a special oversight committee will ensure that the money is used in the appropriate way.

 

The Solidarity Movement today announced comprehensive plans to fight Covid-19. The Movement also made an offer to government to work together to stop the spread of the virus and to mitigate the impact of the drastic measures that have been announced.

Included in the Movement’s plans are, among other things, a Corona Crisis Centre, collaboration with government’s disaster management centre, safety strategy, social support to communities, help with detection, support offered to schools, parents and learners, support and access to information given to people in workplaces, and giving support to artists.

According to Flip Buys, the Solidarity Movement’s chairperson, Covid-19 can usher in a new world. This virus can become a new point of reference in world history. It could have incredible economic and political consequences. The Solidarity Movement will go into crisis management gear,” Buys said.

The Solidarity Movement also announced that a crisis committee will sit on a daily basis to implement action plans according to the latest information.

According to Dirk Hermann, Solidarity Chief Executive, civil society will play a pivotal role in combatting the virus. Solidarity also established a Corona Crisis Centre to support people in the workplace in particular.

AfriForum CEO, Kallie Kriel, emphasised the importance of cooperation. “Political and ideological differences must be put behind us for now. South Africa now has one common enemy and that is Covid-19,” he said. According to Kriel government’s disaster management centre has already been contacted with an offer to help and to cooperate.

AfriForum’s community safety division also launched a special control room that will, among other things, coordinate safety-related challenges and will help with detection efforts.

Solidarity Helping Hand’s Executive Director, Hannes Noëth, expressed his concern over the social consequences the drastic steps will have. For example, the 8 000 pre-schoolers who get daily meals from Solidarity Helping Hand at their nursery schools will now suddenly not have access to meals. He called on the community to help address the impending social crisis.

The Solidarity Schools Support Centre also announced that Wolkskool, its Cloud school, will make thousands of videos, exam papers and work sheets available free of charge until the end of June to support learners doing their schooling from home.

It was also announced that special steps are being planned to support artists.

Akademia announced that its classes continue on its online platform.

In a nutshell, the Solidarity Movement’s Covid-19 crisis plan is as follows:

1. Collaboration with government
   We have already reached out to government’s National Joint Disaster Management Centre. It is planned to collaborate at provincial and local level.
2. Solidarity’s Corona Crisis Centre to support employees
   Here employees can find all job-related questions and answers, information on the virus and general information. A special crisis line will be established.
3. AfriForum’s central community safety control centre
   Safety issues will be coordinated. Possible unrest will be dealt with. General strategic information will be received and processed.
4. Assistance with detection
   AfriForum Safety has already offered to assist the National Disaster Management Centre with detection efforts.
5. Economic activity
   Comprehensive plans to keep the economy functioning will be presented to the government. Solidarity will have talks with employers about the balance to be maintained between business and security.
6. Social support
   Solidarity Helping Hand will deploy 15 social workers countrywide to enable communities to overcome social challenges resulting from interventions to stop the virus, and to overcome illness due to the virus.
7. Support for learners and parents
   The Support Centre for Schools will make thousands of videos, work sheets, test papers and other assistance available on its Cloud School, free of charge, until 30 June to enable learners to continue their studies from home.
8. Information on the virus through e-learning and webinars
   Through its S-leer platform, Solidarity will present a series of e-learning courses to inform children and adults about Covid-19. Webinars will also be presented weekly.
9. Support for the Arts:                                           FAK (Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations), Maroela Media, the Solidarity Occupational Guild for the Arts and Dapper Media will roll out plans to protect artists. In the short term, efforts will be made to help alleviate immediate financial need, but in the medium and long term, we will look at electronic platforms and alternative forms of concerts.
10. National crisis committee and internal action
    The Solidarity Movement has established a national crisis committee that meets daily to adapt action plans in accordance with the latest information. The Movement also cancelled all international travels, and domestic travel is kept to a minimum. Drastic measures are in place to prevent staff members from contracting the virus.

In response to Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, the Solidarity Movement today confirmed that, despite certain dubious intentions and promises made, it would continue to build community institutions and projects to ensure a free, safe and prosperous future for its members in South Africa.

The Movement, which consists of around 18 institutions, stated that while Pres. Ramaphosa has given the assurance that obstacles would be removed so that the private sector could thrive, and that state spending would be curtailed, government is still committed to implement policies that will cause irreversible damage to the economy such as expropriation without compensation and the implementation of national health insurance.

The Movement also believes that the ANC’s ideological rationale to give effect to the National Democratic Revolution by giving the state more power and by centralising more clashes directly with certain intentions revealed in the speech.

According to Francois Redelinghuys, communications manager of the Movement, the Movement is committed to make South Africa successful as a whole, and that the future cannot be left only to the government. “The government’s failures are clear for all to see. The decline in education, economic growth, safety, power supply and unemployment are merely a few examples of this since the previous State of the Nation Address,” Redelinghuys said.

“The SONA merely confirmed to the Movement once again that a future must be secured through community institutions rather than state dependence,” Redelinghuys concluded.

 

 

The Solidarity Movement today welcomed the Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok’s request directed to the South African government to provide more information on the proposed expropriation of land without compensation.

Blok’s request for more clarity on the proposed amendment to the South African Constitution as well as the concerns associated with it was addressed to the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor. This comes after the Dutch parliament last year passed a motion in which that parliament expressed its concern over the proposed land expropriation without compensation in South Africa. The motion also instructed the Dutch government to convey its displeasure about the matter to the South African government.

According to Jaco Kleynhans, the Solidarity Movement’s head of international liaison, the Movement held talks with six political parties in the Dutch parliament last year. The outcome of the liaison was that the motion was proposed by two parties and accepted by a majority of members of parliament. “Since then, we have been engaging with Dutch politicians on an ongoing basis to ensure their government would pressure the South African government as far as this matter is concerned.”

According to Kleynhans, the South African government is conducting a campaign abroad to pacify and deceive so as to reassure its trade partners about the proposed constitutional amendments. “We also visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg in November last year and had discussions with 14 political parties in seven countries in Europe. It was clear that the South African government was trying to placate European governments and politicians about the proposed amendments to the Constitution.

The Solidarity Movement is also approaching the parliaments of other European countries as well to initiate similar motions against the proposed constitutional amendment. AfriForum, which is part of the Solidarity Movement, will visit the USA later this month to raise awareness for, among other things, the planned amendments to the constitution. “Our goal is to convince as many foreign countries as possible to pressure the South African government not to proceed with the constitutional amendments. Land expropriation without compensation and a further erosion of property rights in South Africa will lead to more severe economic problems for our country. Foreign investment will be further prejudiced,” Kleynhans concluded.

The Solidarity Movement today strongly criticised statements by the ANC, namely that the executive must decide when expropriation without compensation (EWC) is permissible, as this confirms that this process is not about land but about power.

This came after the chairperson of the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee tasked with amending section 25 of the Constitution, Mathole Motshekga, said in a recent interview on eNCA that the ANC disagreed with the current bill, which they themselves had tabled, and which gives the courts the authority to decide when zero compensation may be permitted. The ANC believes that the executive authority should rather have this power, as court processes take time and South Africans cannot wait another 25 years to tackle the issue of land.

“It is a major cause for concern that the ANC is continuing to hijack EWC by placing this process in the hands of the president and his cabinet. These statements once again prove that the ANC’s only priority is the acquisition of absolute power. Therefore, expropriation without compensation should be opposed unconditionally, irrespective of whether this power is vested in the courts or the executive. The illusion that an ideological separation of powers exists between the three legs of government is just that – an illusion,” said Francois Redelinghuys, Communications Manager of the Solidarity Movement.

“However, Motshekga hereby creates the illusion that land ownership is a crucial issue for South Africans and that the process must be accelerated, which is contrary to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s own findings that 94,7% of people in the land reform process prefer monetary compensation over land ownership.  The Institute of Race Relations also found in 2019 that only 6% of people believe land reforms should be one of the government’s top priorities. This confirms that EWC is not all that important to citizens, but rather a way for the ANC to award itself the power to legally steal from all of us,” Redelinghuys explained.
Motshekga further explained how this change will be made through legitimate procedures, such as public hearings and the input of other political parties – as this is not just an ANC process.

“The ANC’s assurance that procedures will be followed is not really reassuring. In 2019, in the midst of the public hearing process, President Ramaphosa actually announced that the ANC will continue with EWC – despite the fact that written public input overwhelmingly opposed EWC. This example serves as proof that the ANC will not hesitate to steamroll fair procedures and opposition in pursuit its own interests,” Redelinghuys explained.

“Expropriation without compensation will give the government the power to deprive us of one of the pillars of freedom. This gross violation of property rights must be opposed in principle, regardless of how it is administered,” Redelinghuys argued.

Redelinghuys confirmed that institutions of the Movement, including AfriForum and Solidarity, will submit written comments in opposition to the proposal.

The greater Solidarity Movement, including Solidarity, AfriForum, Helping Hand and the FAK, today announced that it will soon host a second Future Summit on 10 October 2019 where plans for the future of 2030 will be revealed.

This Future Summit follows the first one held in 2015, where plans for 2020 was made and revealed. However, the goals set in 2015 have already been reached before the end of this five-year period and further plans for the future are now essential.

According to Francois Redelinghuys, communication manager of the Solidarity Movement, it is pleasant to announce that the plans of the several institutions introduced by the Movement in 2015, was reached before the end of the five-year period. According to Redelinghuys this shows that the Movement not only talks but takes action.

“However, the work cannot stop now. There is growing concern that the deterioration of the state is busy gaining momentum, and the active exclusion Afrikaners experience on all fronts can only be addressed through practical self-management,” explained Redelinghuys.

“The Movement and all its institutions are therefore working hard on plans for the future where the Afrikaner and the Afrikaans language community can live free, safe and prosperous in South Africa,” said Redelinghuys.

“However, these plans cannot be realised without communities that are actively involved. Therefore, we are hosting a massive summit where all members and supporters from the institutions of the Movement are invited to come together to think and share plans to build a future for us and the next generation,” concluded Redelinghuys.

 

The Solidarity Movement welcomed the adoption of a motion on the expropriation of land by the Dutch parliament today. The motion speaks out strongly against steps that are being taken to allow for expropriation of land in South Africa. A majority of members in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament voted in favour of the motion and thereby instructed the Dutch government to take a clear stand on this issue through bilateral and other processes.

The motion was tabled by Martijn van Helvert of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Kees van der Staaij, leader of the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP) (Reformed Political Party). Over the past few months, the Solidarity Movement has made extensive efforts to inform politicians and other leaders in the Netherlands and in other European countries of the intended expropriation without compensation that would be catastrophic.

According to Jaco Kleynhans, the Solidarity Movement’s head of international liaison, they met with various politicians, including Van Helvert and Van der Staaij, on this matter in February. “As a consequence of the way in which the parliamentary committee investigating constitutional amendments to allow for land expropriation without compensation has shown contempt for our admonishments for caution, and for that of others, the Solidarity Movement had no choice but to internationalise this matter. We will continue to persuade politicians in other countries and other governments to put pressure on the South African government not to continue with the planned amendments to the Constitution.”

The motion adopted by the Dutch parliament today emphasises the fact that the International Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights both prohibit expropriation of property on the basis of skin colour. “The motion passed by the South African government in February last year was clearly in favour of expropriation of land on the basis of skin colour and, therefore, violated these important charters,” Kleynhans said. According to him, the Solidarity Movement expects other countries to follow the example of the Dutch parliament. “We will now also make sure that the Dutch government takes action in this regard, and we will also continue to ensure that this matter, in addition to other important issues such as rural security, which the government also pays no attention to, is discussed at international forums,” Kleynhans concluded.

Jaco Kleynhans
Head: International Liaison
Solidarity Movement
083 324 5631

The Solidarity Movement today took a stand against the reappointment of Panyaza Lesufi as MEC for Education in Gauteng. This followed after Gauteng Premier David Makhura rescinded his initial decision to move Lesufi to a different role.

Lesufi’s term of office as MEC of Education in Gauteng from 2014 has been characterised by controversial and hostile statements against Afrikaans, among other things, rather than actual successes in the province.

According to Francois Redelinghuys, communications manager of the Solidarity Movement, Lesufi’s record as MEC is nothing to get excited about. “In the first two years of Mr Lesufi’s first term of office, the percentage of learners in the province who passed mathematics in matric dropped from 74% in 2014 to 69% in 2016. During the same period, the number of learners who passed physical science dropped from 76% to 69%,” Redelinghuys said.

According to Redelinghuys, Lesufi’s obsession with waging a war against Afrikaans schools enjoys priority over the promotion of quality education in the province. “These statistics show that under Mr Lesufi’s leadership education in Gauteng has by no means made strides forward. Moreover, it is absurd that his politicking and utterances directed at successful Afrikaans schools, rather than his achievements, are now rewarded,” Redelinghuys said.

“Therefore, the Solidarity Movement reiterates that it would not back off while the right to mother tongue education is being undermined. Moreover, we will continue to fight through all our various institutions for the future of Afrikaans education,” Redelinghuys said.

Let your vote count; however future too precious to leave it up to government only – Solidarity Movement

At a joint media conference held today, member institutions that form part of the Solidarity Movement took the view on the forthcoming election that participation in the democratic process is important, but that due to the deteriorating nature of the state, own initiative will have to be taken to build further.

The institutions belonging to the movement, including Solidarity, AfriForum, Solidarity Helping Hand and the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) represent approximately 2 million people, which include 500 000 members and their families. It represents interests at various levels, including the world of work, community safety, minority rights, civil rights, social care and language and cultural heritage.

According to Flip Buys, chairperson of the Solidarity Movement, the movement remains politically unaligned, but it still encourages members and their families to vote. “While we engage with all, we do not align ourselves with any particular party. People are justifiably upset with the poor government, and the election does offer an opportunity to make your voice heard,” Buys explained.

“However, we do not want to pretend that South Africa is a normal democracy and that the country can be brought back on the right track simply by voting. Having said that, we certainly do not reject constitutional democracy; on the contrary, we defend it. However, it is common knowledge that the ANC has not just captured the state, but the entire constitutional democracy. The country and its institutions suffered incalculable damage due to large-scale mismanagement; corruption that has taken on industrial scale proportions; the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment with its purpose of controlling the entire country; the undermining of constitutional institutions such as the National Prosecuting Authority and others; the pursuit of a disastrous transformation policy; and the reintroduction of an encompassing race dispensation,” Buys explained.

According to Buys, the movement cannot merely stand by and observe how harmful policies and poor governance bring the country to the brink of the abyss, gambling with everyone’s future as such. “We are committed to the country and therefore we are using democratic and constitutional processes to demand accountability, grow the economy and to maintain the legal order. At the same time, however, reality has shown that it would be recklessly irresponsible to just leave our future in the hands of government. That is why we will announce plans after the election to give our Plan B more momentum. With Plan B we are also taking responsibility ourselves for our community’s future by organising strong community organisations in every important area. Our dual purpose is firstly to become less reliant on the state, and secondly to achieve greater independence,” Buys confirmed.

“The purpose of Plan B is not to isolate Afrikaners, for example, but to create those very cultural spaces to enable us to live together in Africa. By creating the circumstances in which Afrikaners can be lastingly free, safe and prosperous we can also make a sustainable contribution to the wellbeing of the country and all its people,” Buys said.