Afrikaners

See also: Boer

Afrikaners (Afrikaans: Afrikaners, pronounced [afrəˈkɑːnərs, afri-]) are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century. Their identity as Afrikaners developed much later, after assimilation with various other European, Asian and indigenous peoples and the development of a common language. Afrikaners dominated South African politics from 1948 to 1994.

Quotes

• I hate no black man. I hate no brown man. The same God that made me put them there too. My God is not only for Afrikaners.
  • P. W. Botha Addressing the Transvaal NP Congress on 18 September 1979, as cited in PW Botha in his own words, Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1987, p. 25

• The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference.
  • P. W. Botha Speaking to the House of Assembly on February 20, 1981, as cited by Andrew Donaldson, Sunday Times, 5 November 2006

• There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner … and that is the Afrikaner himself.
  • P. W. Botha Speaking to the House of Assembly on 26 April 1984. Excerpt from a quote by Andrew Donaldson, Sunday Times, 5 November 2006

• I am tired of constantly hearing how guilty the Afrikaner and the National Party are and the time has come that this myth be crushed.
  • P. W. Botha As state president, at the annual conference of the Afrikaner Studentebond, Stellenbosch, 15 April 1985, as cited in PW Botha in his own words, Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1987, p. 32

• Lord Milner had, in the forced Peace of Vereeniging ensured that there was to be no franchise for black people after the introduction of self-government – which was never intended. It was only after half a century that an Afrikaner government started doing something about black rights.
  • P. W. Botha As state president, unveiling a monument to Boer War victims at Delareyville, 10 October 1985, as cited in PW Botha in his own words, Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1987, p. 34

• The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands.
  • P. W. Botha As cited in Dictionary of South African Quotations, Jennifer Crwys-Williams, Penguin Books 1994, p. 11

• [ANC] leaders are scapegoating and blaming the Afrikaner minority group for the current economic turmoil, unemployment and poverty. All Afrikaners are presented as land thieves and land is presented as the sole solution to all of South Africa’s socio-economic challenges.
  • Pieter Groenewald in November 2008, as quoted by Marianne Merten in Expropriation without compensation set to pass next hurdle, but there’s a long road ahead, Daily Maverick (3 December 2018)

• apartheid–to which Afrikaners clung for decades as their only hope and salvation from Third World domination–was in fact an impracticable and unworkable system which led directly to the Afrikaners’ demise as a political force in that country.
  • Essay by Arthur Kemp, from the book The Lie of Apartheid and other true stories from Southern Africa

• I have sought to recruit many competent black people, and no sooner have we trained them than they leave. I get so upset! I am stopping this recruitment of black people. I am okay with my Afrikaners. They stay and do the work
  • South African Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni at a breakfast in Johannesburg in October 2006. Article by IOL (Title: I'll stick with Afrikaners - Mboweni) published on the 7th of October 2006 [1]

• "America, a humane society, ought to take pity on the persecuted descendants of another Protestant patriarchy. However, even if American immigration policy welcomed white South Africans, which it doesn't, Afrikaners would find it hard to leave. The Boers (and British) built the place. Like Heidi away from the Alps, Afrikaners tend to wilt when separated from their homeland. Not for nothing have the Afrikaners been dubbed "The White Tribe of Africa.""
  • Ilana Mercer; Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa

• I am not for reconciliation, I am for justice. There is no reconciliation without justice and justice is the return of land. [...] AfriForum is a boeremag. It’s a group of Afrikaners who still wish for apartheid. They will never see it. Afrikaner boys, die poppe sal dans. The EFF is coming for you boys. Afrikaner boys, the ANC has made you to think this thing is still Orange Free State. This thing is not Orange Free State. This is Free State. When we take over power, Afrikaner males, you will know your place. Just pray, pray to [your] ancestors, pray to Malan, pray to Verwoerd, pray and ask them for EFF not to come into power. Because [if] we come into power, Afrikaner men, this side! This is where you belong, this is how you are going to behave. They must know, these Afrikaner males, they must know, we are not scared of them ideologically, politically and otherwise. We can take each other toe to toe.
  • Julius Malema To EFF supporters after appearing in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court for allegedly contravening the Riotous Assemblies Act, 14 November 2016, Watch: “When we take over power, Afrikaner males, you will know your place.” Malema [video], Ezra Claymore, The South African, 14 November 2016. See also: [2], [3], [4]

• Two decades after the destruction of the Anglo Boer War, the Afrikaners didn't blame the past for all their troubles. They baked and sold koeksisters, they started companies, they organized fundraisers to build schools and universities... Entitlement ideology increases poverty.
  • Ernst Roets; Article by The Citizen Newspaper (Title: Stop being entitled and bake koeksisters, says Ernst Roets) [5] Published on the 12th February 2019