Zimbabwe News Update
newzimbabwe_improved
5 min read
afriforum ceo kallie kriel says his organisation is being unfairly blamed for the diplomatic fallout between south africa and the united states. kriel has denied that his organisation is responsible for the deterioration in relations between the united states and south africa, saying the civil-rights group is being used as a scapegoat amid increasingly public exchanges. iol reported on saturday that us president donald trump announced a total boycott of the g20 summit taking place in south africa later this month. the move and subsequent comments from us politicians have put afriforum at the eye of the diplomatic storm.
kriel: ‘we never used that terminology’ speaking to broadcaster newzroom afrika on saturday, kriel insisted afriforum had never described the situation in south africa as a “genocide” targeting afrikaners. “that is another lie spread by the anc. the fact is, those media institutions that accused us of spreading the white genocide narrative, we took them to the press ombud and already five of those institutions had to apologise to us. we never used that terminology. “our stance is quite clear, the ‘kill the boer, kill the farmer’ chant, calling for the killing of afrikaners on an ethnic basis, is a genocidal call. but we never said there is genocide.
all we are asking from the government and the president is – condemn this call, acknowledge the fact that we are seeing tortures that accompany these murders, and declare it a priority crime,” he said. kriel said when his organisation visited the united states, afriforum understood the consequences of concerns which had been raised repeatedly in washington about the situation in south africa. “if you go and have a look, long before we went to the us, in the house of representatives, a bill was asking for the review of the relationship with south africa. the stuff mentioned there was former minister naledi pandor visiting iran and a number of other issues.
we did not go to iran, we did not sign the expropriation act, we are not the ones refusing to condemn the ‘kill the boer’chant.it is the irresponsible behaviour of anc leaders.” kriel said the denialism by the anc has failed and everyone is now reaping the “bitter fruits”. political fallout grows ahead of g20 the political dispute between pretoria and washington has taken on a diplomatic dimension after public comments by us political figures and the decision by washington to withhold official representation at the g20. observers say the episode has amplified domestic polarisation, with civil-society groups, opposition parties and government figures trading accusations about motives and responsibility.
earlier on saturday, iol reported that south africa’s international relations and cooperation minister ronald lamola has publicly challenged claims by us secretary of state marco rubio that afrikaners are being racially persecuted, describing the allegations as politically motivated and unsupported by formal data. below is the original article from the original source. [paywall] afriforum ceo kallie kriel says his organisation is being unfairly blamed for the diplomatic fallout between south africa and the united states. kriel has denied that his organisation is responsible for the deterioration in relations between the united states and south africa, saying the civil-rights group is being used as a scapegoat amid increasingly public exchanges.
iol reported on saturday that us president donald trump announced a total boycott of the g20 summit taking place in south africa later this month. the move and subsequent comments from us politicians have put afriforum at the eye of the diplomatic storm. kriel: ‘we never used that terminology’ speaking to broadcaster newzroom afrika on saturday, kriel insisted afriforum had never described the situation in south africa as a “genocide” targeting afrikaners. “that is another lie spread by the anc. the fact is, those media institutions that accused us of spreading the white genocide narrative, we took them to the press ombud and already five of those institutions had to apologise to us. we never used that terminology.
“our stance is quite clear, the ‘kill the boer, kill the farmer’ chant, calling for the killing of afrikaners on an ethnic basis, is a genocidal call. but we never said there is genocide. all we are asking from the government and the president is – condemn this call, acknowledge the fact that we are seeing tortures that accompany these murders, and declare it a priority crime,” he said. kriel said when his organisation visited the united states, afriforum understood the consequences of concerns which had been raised repeatedly in washington about the situation in south africa. “if you go and have a look, long before we went to the us, in the house of representatives, a bill was asking for the review of the relationship with south africa.
the stuff mentioned there was former minister naledi pandor visiting iran and a number of other issues. we did not go to iran, we did not sign the expropriation act, we are not the ones refusing to condemn the ‘kill the boer’chant.it is the irresponsible behaviour of anc leaders.” kriel said the denialism by the anc has failed and everyone is now reaping the “bitter fruits”. political fallout grows ahead of g20 the political dispute between pretoria and washington has taken on a diplomatic dimension after public comments by us political figures and the decision by washington to withhold official representation at the g20.
observers say the episode has amplified domestic polarisation, with civil-society groups, opposition parties and government figures trading accusations about motives and responsibility. earlier on saturday, iol reported that south africa’s international relations and cooperation minister ronald lamola has publicly challenged claims by us secretary of state marco rubio that afrikaners are being racially persecuted, describing the allegations as politically motivated and unsupported by formal data. source: newzimbabwe [/paywall]
