Africa-Press – South-Africa. Freedom Front Plus leader Corné Mulder has revealed the outcome of the recent visit to the US, in which the party engaged with White House officials under the theme of “an Afrikaner perspective on US/SA relations”.
Mulder said there were four specific non-negotiable conditions US President Donald Trump’s administration set out to mend ties between the countries.
Among the conditions were for the ANC to denounce the “Kill the Boer” chant and prioritise the fight against farm murders. Problems with the Expropriation Act were also raised.
“I specifically asked, are you talking about the government of national unity? What are you talking about? And the response was we want the ANC as a political party to do that in public,” Mulder said.
He said they had meetings with different segments, including people responsible for South African issues. He emphasised that the visit was not to complain to the US government but to help restore diplomatic and trade relations.
“We had a successful visit and we were very well received. It was a comprehensive visit.
“We did not go to the US to complain. We were clear from the beginning that we would like to see our country prosper and be successful. We are of the view that there are certain challenges that are making that very difficult. If we want to succeed, we need to discuss these things in a frank manner — and we did.”
South Africa and the US have had strained relations over misinformation about South Africa’s land policies. In May a group of Afrikaners arrived in the US as “refugees” under an executive order signed by Trump in February.
The controversy surrounding the “Kill the Boer” chant resurfaced at the White House in May during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit at which Trump called for EFF leader Julius Malema’s arrest for chanting the song.
Ramaphosa dismissed Trump’s call, citing the equality court’s ruling that the song did not constitute hate speech.
“The slogan, ‘kill the Boer, kill the farmer,’ is a liberation chant and slogan,” Ramaphosa said. “That’s not meant to be a message that elicits or calls upon anyone to go and be killed. And that is what our court decided.
“We follow the dictates of our constitution because we are a constitutional state, and we are a country where freedom of expression is the bedrock of our constitutional arrangement,” Ramaphosa told Trump.
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