ANC meeting with Afrikaner group raises hackles among party members

TENSIONS RISE

- MASHUDU SADIKE

THE ANC has met with the Afrikaner Leadership Network on Tuesday night, which includes the Solidarity Movement, Solidarity and AfriForum, in a surprise move facilitated by the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC).

The meeting, described as “robust and frank,” aimed to discuss matters of common interest to the country but has left some within the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) dissatisfied with meeting the Afrikaner organisation.

In March this year, the Afrikaner right-wing groups took a trip to the US, meeting with US President Donald Trump to raise concerns regarding SA’s Expropriation Bill.

At the time, the organisations claimed that the South African government was ready to commit land grabs from Afrikaner land owners, which was widely seen as spreading disinformation.

This was after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Bill into law which led to Trump cutting funding such as the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which would leave scores of South African citizens who are battling with HIV/Aids in dire straits.