HNP flag

Since 1994 we have been a conquered and oppressed people, not a mere minority community within a greater “rainbow nation”. Although many Afrikaners have since accepted the new dispensation, we still uphold our nationhood. We also strive to regain our freedom in our fatherland in accordance with international law, which acknowledges the right of every people to self-determination.

How did our nationhood arise? In the course of history, South Africa was occupied more or less simultaneously by the white people who came from Europe, and various black peoples who migrated from Central Africa and settled in various locations. The latter did not develop the parts of the land where they settled.

The non-English-speaking Europeans evolved into a separate Afrikaner nation with a Western culture. They occupied empty land, bought minor pieces of land from the black peoples and - in exceptional cases - conquered land after being attacked. Over a period of three and a half centuries they developed their whole land into a highly developed state.

The black peoples turned to the whites, who had the initiative, for a living and for protection against the stronger tribes. In this way, the tradition developed that the whites ruled not only themselves, but also many non-whites, for which they constituted a guardian. The Afrikaners formed the mainstay of the white government.

While the black peoples’ traditional homelands were protected by the white government against white occupation and thus remained exclusively black, the whites’ territory became heavily-populated by black migrant workers. The policy of separate development was adopted to emancipate the black peoples under white authority and lead them to full independence. Accordingly, the Transkei , Ciskei and Bophuthatswana became independent republics, while the other homelands were to follow suit.

Measures were put into place to restrict the influx of migratory labour into the white people’s territory and to encourage black people to return to their homelands. During this process of emancipation the black inhabitants of the white land exercised their political rights in their traditional homelands. Thus, it is simply not true that South Africa only became a democracy in 1994.

However, mineral-rich South Africa was a rich prize for which Britain had already waged an annihilating war against the Boer nation a century ago. While the black peoples accepted the policy in increasing numbers, the ANC, under communist influence and with support of the Western powers, wanted the whole of South Africa, especially the highly developed land of the white people. Therefore they waged a campaign of terrorism and victimised mass action against the latter.

After prolonged negotiations between the ANC and the National Party government, the Government gave way and concluded a treacherous agreement. According to this agreement, the South African Constitution was modified to give all inhabitants the vote in one unified South Africa, which included the white nation’s fatherland, the black homelands that were not yet fully emancipated as well as the Republics of the Transkei, Ciskei and Bophuthatswana, which then lost their independence.

Suddenly, in 1994, the Afrikaner people found themselves conquered and deprived of their fatherland. Politically, they are now subject to a system that has been structured to keep them in a position of permanent subordination because of their numerical inferiority.

So why don’t we take part in the so-called democratic elections?

• We regard the regime that rules our fatherland as illegal. By taking part in the political dispensation that was forced upon us, we would render it legitimacy and morally we would be bound to abide by the outcome of the elections. Such a situation would deprive us of the moral right to try and regain our freedom.

• Our participation would support the false image being portrayed of a real democracy that enjoys support from all its subjects in terms of the new Constitution that came into being since 1994.

• This Constitution is an atheist document in which the supremacy of God is not acknowledged. It is based on the Freedom Charter, which was formulated as a blueprint for the extinction of the white people in South Africa , especially the Afrikaner. Although the Constitution pretends to guarantee equality and equal treatment for all its subjects, it is time and again interpreted to the detriment of the Afrikaner people and their interests. As a result, we regard this Constitution as a declaration of war against the Afrikaner people.

• Acceptance of the Constitution would mean an acceptance of the offensive statements included in it which by implication label ourselves, our history and our forefathers as wicked and criminal.

• Finally, voting in a “democracy” that has been designed to demonstrate and emphasise the Afrikaner people’s powerlessness in this dispensation is severely humiliating and impairs our self-respect.

In effect, at present Afrikaners are an oppressed people within a dictatorship of numbers. It is clear that the Afrikaner people can never regain their freedom and sovereignty by participating in the present constitutional dispensation. An electoral commission has therefore been established by freedom-loving Afrikaners to organise the election of an Afrikaner representative body (Volksraad) outside the present political dispensation, which will be given a mandate to take whatever steps are necessary to regain our freedom.

Andries Breytenbach is deputy leader of the Herstigte Nasionale Party (Re-Constituted National Party)