The Cape Rebels Were Not Cape Dutch.
During the discourse on pointing out & exploring the distinct identity of the Boers from the
Cape Dutch & thus from the bulk of the nomenclatured Afrikaner population: certain
uninformed folks have ignorantly used the Cape Rebels as an erroneous example of a proBoer sentiment among the bulk of the Cape Dutch or to even go so far as to erroneously
assert that there is "no difference" between the Boers & the Cape Dutch [ thereby betraying
their total ignorance or agenda on the topic even further ] while totally forgetting that the vast
majority of the Cape Rebels were from the Boer communities of the northeastern Cape
frontier & that very few actual Cape Dutch ever joined up with the Cape Rebels as the Cape
Dutch as a whole were much more aligned with the British Colonial power.
While spending years looking into the history of the Boer people as well as the Cape Dutch &
Afrikaner people in general by reading numerous books & articles: I have picked up on
intricacies & events that were often not taught to people after the Afrikaner Broederbond
began to rewrite the history of the Boers & co-opt them into a synthetic & artificial pan
Afrikaans political movement which was aimed [ as part of its goal ] at securing control of
the macro State of South Africa as created by the British with a British act of legislation.
Part of this agenda labeled all White Afrikaans speakers as "Afrikaners" & turned Boers
retroactively into Afrikaners thereby denying the Boers the right to their own history &
heritage & conditioned them to share it with a people who were not part of it & often opposed
the aspirations of the Boers during the time frame in question. As the Boers were now
arbitrarily within the political sphere made to be part of larger Cape Dutch population [
whose intellectuals began to propagate the term Afrikaner to describe themselves in the late
19th cent at a time when the Boers were mainly independent within their Boer Republics ]:
the Afrikaner establishment was able to control the destiny of the smaller Boer people by
simply implying that the Boers were now part of them instead of the distinct nation that the
Boers had been since circa 1700 during the bifurcation period which led to the existence of
the Trekboers on the expanding Cape frontier.
The following sourced article that I have composed demonstrates that the Cape Rebels were
in fact mainly Boers & not Cape Dutch simply because the vast majority of those who
became Cape Rebels were from the Boer people of the Cape frontier.
The Cape Rebels were mainly Boers from the northeastern Cape frontier who fought on the
side of the Boer Republics which were located across the Orange River. As inhabitants of the
Cape Colony they were British subjects therefore often paid a huge price for siding with their
cousins of the republics. There is a glaring misconception promoted by some who assert that
the Boers were part of the Cape Dutch population - but that is a gross distortion. The Cape
Dutch population was larger than the Boer population but the Cape Dutch were the folks who
inhabited the south western Cape region who coalesced into a community at a time [ circa
1700 ] when the Boers were becoming a distinct people on the Cape frontier which shaped
them into a distinct people even further.
During the late 17th cent: the most impoverished folks who could not cope in Colonial
society & who chaffed the most under VOC rule & who had the least tolerance for its
autocratic rule [ 1 ] were compelled to trek inland into Africa & away from the western Cape
region & consequently away from the population which the trekkers began to refer to as the
Cape Dutch. [ 2 ] The trekkers who were moving away were in turn called Trekboers. [ 3 ]
By the mid 1700s there arose two distinct Afrikaans [ whom its speakers referred to as Dutch
/ die taal / Boeretaal etc. ] speaking groups in Southern Africa. [ 3 ] The largest group was
centered in & around Cape Town up to Paarl & Stellenbosh & were often known as the Cape
Dutch who were pro Colonial & had no desire for independence as they saw no reason to
break with the Colonial power. The smaller group was nomadic & was very anti-colonial &
had spread out over the expanding Cape frontier from Swellendam right up to the Sundays
River & were initially known as Trekboers a term which was later shortened to Boer. [ 3 ] It
was overwhelmingly from the Boer communities of the Cape frontier that the participants of
the Great Trek were from [ 4 ] due to their long standing anti-colonial nature. Those folks
were renown as Boers & those who left the Cape & trekked northwards were known as
Trekkers. [ 5 ]
The fact of the matter is that it was not until the 1930s when Afrikaner Broederbond
historians began re-writing [ 6 ] the history that the Boers of the era were called Voortrekkers
in retrospect as that act was part of the Afrikaner's attempt at co-opting the history of the
Boers in order to promote a State based teleocratic agenda which was inimical to Boer self
determination. The insinuation behind the deft promotion of the term Voortrekker was to
imply that those Boers who trekked were "pioneers" for a macro mythological "Afrikaner"
group when in reality it was mainly Boers who trekked [ who were 500 miles separated from
the Cape Dutch & rarely interacted with them ] as the Cape Dutch did not share the Boer
outlook of wanting independence. Those Trekkers [ later called Voortrekkers ] soon
established various Boer Republics north of the Orange River two of which were
internationally recognized. [ 7 ]
Therefore by the time of the second Anglo-Boer War there had LONG since been established
two distinct Caucasian Afrikaans speaking groups. Indeed even since a century to 150 years
before the Great Trek. Even the term "Afrikaans speaking" is presumptive because it was
Cape Dutch intellectuals who coined the term Afrikaans to describe the macro language
which developed at the Cape since the 17th cent. [ 8 ] The Boers were not the ones who
coined the term Afrikaans as they simply referred to their dialect as die taal [ 9 ] or Boeretaal.
The Boer dialect was distinct from the Cape Dutch dialect & historians have classified the
Boers' dialect as Eastern Border Afrikaans [ 10 ] after the region where they & their dialect
were formed.
Therefore those who refer to the Cape Boers as being part of the Cape Dutch are either
ignorant of history or are perpetuating a fraud in order to marginalize the existence of the
Boer people. [ 11 ] Claiming that the Boers are part of the Cape Dutch is tantamount to
claiming that the Acadians are part of the Quebecois or that the Canadians are part of the
Americans or that the Moldovans are part of the Romanians or that the Serbs are part of the
Croatians. The Boers struggled to survive on the harsh Cape frontier in the face of danger [
12 ] & paid for their distinct identity which they carved out on the Cape frontier in blood &
sacrifice therefore erroneously & ignorantly accusing them of being part of the Cape Dutch is
an insult & shows callous disregard to why the Boers ever arose in the first place. [ 13 ] The
Cape Dutch looked down on the Boers & never understood why the Boers wanted freedom [
14 ] in Africa as they could not understand why anyone would want to be independent from
the Colonial power.
The Cape Rebels were overwhelmingly from the Cape frontier [ 15 ] & even often from the
same towns [http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/great-trek/greattrek1.htm ] that the Voortreekers were from [
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysn6UGFxBmc&feature=related ] thereby demonstrating
that the Cape Rebels were Boers not Cape Dutch. There was a lot of Cape Rebel activity at
Colesberg near the border with the OVS Republic. Authors have noted how the Boers failed
in trying to get the Cape Dutch inhabitants of the western Cape to rise up against Britain
during the second Anglo-Boer War. That was because as authors like Mordechai Tamarkin
have noted [ within the book: Cecil Rhodes and the Cape Afrikaners ] the Cape Dutch were
generally content with British rule. While much smaller numbers of Cape Dutch did join up
with the Cape Rebels - the fact of the matter is that a lot of Cape Dutch were on the side of
the British & were fighting AGAINST the Boers. [ 16 ] Therefore the erroneous contention
that the Cape Boers were part of the Cape Dutch simply adds insult to injury. This
misunderstanding is compounded further when some folks erroneously assert that the Great
Trek was from Cape Town [ 17 ] [ probably confusing the centennial commemoration of the
Great Trek which did start at Cape Town which at that point had been co-opted & run by
Afrikaners & led by a Cape Dutch Afrikaner politician named D F Malan ] instead of the
Cape frontier [ or then known as the eastern provinces of the Cape ] as some folks appear to
be totally ignorant of the towns & communities of the Cape frontier which was settled &
populated by the Boer people - not by the Cape Dutch.
Notes.
1. Quote: [ The rise of an expanding settler society fueled tensions between free burghers and
the VOC. Free burghers criticized the autocratic powers of the local VOC administration, in
which the governor had full control and the settlers had no rights of representation. They
denounced the economic policies of the VOC that fixed the prices at which settlers could sell
their agricultural products. They called attention to the corrupt practices of VOC officers,
who granted themselves prime land and then sold their own crops at higher prices to the
company. Above all, they complained about the VOC's failure--at least in their eyes--to
police the frontier boundaries and to protect the settlers' crops and herds from Khoikhoi and
San raiders. ]
From: Library of Congress Country Studies.
Found at: [ lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+za0017) ]
2. Quote: [ When the White population at the Cape split over the colonial issue - as detailed
above, those who wanted to escape colonial rule migrated away from the Cape, while those
who had no nationalistic zeal and who wished to keep their links with Europe stayed behind.
These people who stayed behind were all Dutch citizens, and when the British occupied the
Cape, were perfectly happy to become loyal British citizens.
Those who stayed behind in the Cape became known amongst the independence minded
Boers as the "Cape Dutch" - symbolizing their attachment to Europe. This group loyally
supported any European colonial government, and vehemently opposed all attempts by the
fledgling Boer population to break ties with the colonial governments. This group stood in
strong opposition to the fledgling Boer population and differed with them on all levels starting with their approach to colonialism and extending all the way through even to
language. It is not widely known for example that there are for example marked accent and
pronunciation differences between the Boers and the "Cape Dutch".
The vehemence with which the Cape Dutch opposed the Boer population was underlined
when the Boers were excommunicated from the Cape Dutch Reformed Church when they
moved away form the Cape.
This group of Cape Dutch settlers therefore always opposed the Boers' drive for
independence and anti-colonialism, and, along with the British settlers, were the true colonial
masters of Southern Africa, while the Boers always tried to get away from this mentality and
state of affairs. ]
From: The Boers of Southern Africa. Arthur Kemp.
Found at: [
web.archive.org/web/20060717091306/http://www.arthurkemp.com/whoaretheboers.htm ]
3. Quote: [ These early Dutch farmers were joined by other Europeans and their populations
grew. The Dutch East India Company imported slaves from Angola, Mozambique,
Madagascar and other parts of the Dutch Empire to work on large plantations close to Cape
Town. The seminomadic Dutch farmers expanded their settlement further from the Cape and
came into conflict over land with local African populations. Their contact with the local
Dutch government became more and more tenuous and most of them lived hard rural lives,
moving farmsteads frequently, and quite independent of government and education. By 1745
they were known as Trekboers, which means "wandering farmers," a term which was later
shortened to Boers. They were unaware of the changing politics in Europe. ]
From Bowdoin College.
Found at: [ http://www.bowdoin.edu/cbbaway/CapetownSA/CTGeneralinformation.html ]
4. The Boers who left the Cape during the era of the Great Trek came from towns like:
Grahamstown / Uitenhage / Swellendam / Graaff-Reinet / Somerset East & Cradock.
5. Noted throughout the article: History of South Afrfica of History World at: [
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=orl ]
6. Quote: [ When the Afrikaner Broederbond 's National Party won the elections, and took
over the governance of South Africa from 1948 and launched the system of apartheid, the
first thing they did was to completely rewrite the Boers' history. Suddenly, all the
accomplishments of the Boers became 'Afrikaner' accomplishments.
The Boer Women's Monument in Bloemfontein, erected in memory of the murdered Boer
women and children who died in the British concentration camps written about so eloquently
by British pro-Boer campaigner Emily Hobhouse, even became the Afrikaner Women's
Monument - a truly vile insult to their memory. The Voortrekker Monument is described in
terms which honour the memory of Afrikaners -- not the Boers who had actually undertaken
the Great Trek. ]
From: Boer, Afrikaner Or White - Which Are You? By Adriana Stuijt.
Found at: [ http://www.rense.com/general56/boerafrikanerorwhite.htm ]
7. Quote: [ The Republic was now in possession of a Convention, which from the nature of
its provisions seemed to promise a peaceful future. In addition to Great Britain it was
recognized in Holland, France, Germany, Belgium, and especially in the United States of
America. The American Secretary of State at Washington, writing to President Pretorius on
the 19th November, 1870, said: " That his Government, while heartily acknowledging the
Sovereignty of the Transvaal Republic, would be ready to take any steps which might be
deemed necessary for that purpose. " ]
C W van der Hoogt. The Story of the Boers. Page 96. [
www.outspan.com/books/boers/boers04.htm ]
8. [ http://www.rsa-overseas.com/historical-sites/afrikaans-language-monument-afrikaansetaalmonument-and-museum.htm ] The reverend S J Du Toit his brother D F Du Toit &
Gideon Malherbe of the Western Cape started the Society of True Afrikaners in 1875: an
Afrikaans language rights movement which started to get Afrikaans recognized.
9. Professor Wallace Mills.
Quote: [ - Afrikaans (at the time almost always referred to as „die Taal‟—the Language) was
a spoken, not a written language. ]
Found at: [ stmarys.ca/~wmills/course322/11Afrikaner_natm.html ]
10. Afrikaans Language Museum. Eastern Border Afrikaans.
Quote: [ Eastern Border Afrikaans has its roots in the farming community that moved further
and further from the Cape. A large number of residents in the Cape were Dutch [Note: High
Dutch ] speaking and they made up part of the farmers that moved away from the Cape. At
the end of the 18th century this group settled on the East Border and they lived a very
secluded life and spoke their own type of Afrikaans until well into the 19th cent. ]
Found at: [ www.museums.org.za/afrtaal/English/o3.htm ]
11. The Boers have only ever been a minority of the total White Afrikaans speaking
population.
12. Quote: [ The Boers' self confidence in their military prowess in the first half of the 19th
century stemmed from the robust, often dangerous lives they led daily on the frontiers of
civilization. ]
From: Micheal Barthorp. The Anglo-Boer Wars. Page 9.
13. The Boers arose as a people due to the impoverished folks who left the western Cape
region starting in the late 17th cent.& began trekking inland & were originally known as
Trekboers. Thus the Boer people would never have arose were it not for those impoverished
forebears who wanted to get away from Colonial society & Dutch rule.
Quote: [ Impoverished whites living at the fringes of colonial society also had few options,
but these included the real possibility of dropping out of its grindingly class-conscious
constraints. Many just packed up their wagons and rolled out into the interior, where they
lived by the gun, either hunting game or taking cattle from the Khoi by force. Beyond the
control of the Dutch East India Company, these nomadic trekboers began to assume a
pastoral niche previously occupied by the Khoi. By the turn of the nineteenth century,
trekboers had penetrated well into the Eastern Cape, pushing back the Khoi and San in the
process. Not that the indigenous people gave up without a fight. As their lives became
disrupted and living by traditional means became impossible, the Khoisan began to prey on
the cattle and sheep of the trekboers. ]
From: [ http://www.hostelbookers.com/guides/south_africa/106447 ]
14. Kemp notes: [ This group of Cape Dutch settlers therefore always opposed the Boers'
drive for independence and anti-colonialism, and, along with the British settlers, were the true
colonial masters of Southern Africa, while the Boers always tried to get away from this
mentality and state of affairs. ]
From: The Boers of Southern Africa. Arthur Kemp.
Found at: [
web.archive.org/web/20060717091306/http://www.arthurkemp.com/whoaretheboers.htm ]
15. The Anglo-Boer War Museum web site notes on its Cape Rebel page the following: [
These were Afrikaans speaking Colonials from the Cape Colony who joined the Boer Forces
because of familial and cultural ties. They came from all over the Cape Colony e.g from
Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Somerset East and Middelburg. ] Found at: [ http://www.angloboer.co.za/pow/cape-rebels.php ] Note that the towns mentioned are all within the Cape
frontier & even the same towns where the Voortrekkers were from during the era of the Great
Trek.
16. Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio noted this himself during the first interview that he did
with an American shortwave radio program called The Right Perspective found at: [
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6yo6adPSQY ]
17. Noted by authors like Thomas W. Hazlett within an article found at: [
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html ] who not only does not realize that the
Great Trek was from the Cape frontier - not Cape Town - but even tragically confuses &
conflates the Boers with the Afrikaners & does not realize that most Boers of the frontiers did
not own slaves as pointed out by Professor Wallace Mills & the Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Afrikaner Broederbond created mythology is so pervasive that even Westerners often
parrot the erroneous conflation of Boers with the Cape Dutch as both groups were later
arbitrarily lumped under the ambiguous Afrikaner designation.
Posted by Ron. at 12:29 AM 1 comments
November 5, 2010
The Boers are not of Dutch Descent.
There is a common misconception that the Boer people are Dutch descendents when in reality
there are comparatively few actual Dutch roots as they are an amalgamation of German /
Frisian / Danish & French Huguenot origin. Uniformed folks will often point to the numerous
Dutch surnames as supposed proof of the Dutch roots of the Boers while forgetting that the
VOC respelled most surnames to conform to a Dutch spelling. This even affected numerous
French surnames as well ie: Villion was changed to Viljoen / Jourdan was changed to Jordaan
/ Pinard was changed to Pienaar / Cronier was changed to Cronjé / Gauch was changed to
Gouws etc. Though quite a lot of French names did retain their original spelling. For
example: Joubert / Du Toit / Roux / Du Plessis / Marais / Naudé / Vivier. etc. The Boer
people are not descended from any single ethnic group which was brought out to the Cape as
they are a composite & amalgamation of the various groups which merged into distinct
Afrikaans speaking successive groups. The impoverished folks who began to trek into the
Cape frontier [ about 35 years after the VOC first arrived at the Cape ] were the ancestors of
the Boer people / nation. This occurred long before the arrival of the British Colonial power.
Posted by Ron. at 10:37 PM 1 comments
The Boers Are Distinct From the Afrikaners.
The distinct nature of the Boer people from the bulk of the Cape Dutch descended Afrikaners
is recognized among honest academic circles.
Quote: [ The majority of the original white settlers, known as Cape Dutch, or in frontier
regions Boers, maintained a nominal loyalty to the Dutch Reformed Church. ] From:
Christianity in Southern Central Africa Prior to 1910.
The frontier Boers themselves recognized themselves as distinct from the Cape Dutch.
Quote: [ Trekboers certainly recognised the differences in language, religion, etc. between
themselves and the British; they had certainly developed a way-of-life and a set of values that
were distinctive, but they were also significantly different from people of Dutch descent in
the western province areas of the Cape. The latter regarded the Trekboers as rather wild,
semi-barbarous frontiersmen and the sense of common identity was limited and incomplete.
The westerners followed the Trek with interest and probably with a good deal of sympathy,
but they certainly did not see the trekkers as the saviours of some mystical Afrikaner „nation‟.
] From: Professor Wallace Mills. The Great Trek.
Though it turns out that there was not a lot of "sympathy" for the Great Trek by the Cape
Dutch as they could not understand why the Boers would want to trek "away from
civilization" but they must have realized that the conditions were especially rough for the
frontier Boers who were facing the brunt of the constant "frontier wars" & the arbitrary
policies of the British Colonial power.
Posted by Ron. at 10:16 PM 0 comments
Not an Apartheid Era Flag.
The following is how the CBC web site describes the Vyfkleur flag. [ More on the
Vyfkleur flag here. ] An unmistakable Boer pre Apartheid era flag dating from the
second Anglo-Boer War. A man [ no doubt a proud Boer ] holds up the Vyfkleur in
the following photo taken recently outside of court & posted on the web page in
question but the CBC then engages in bad journalism by calling the flag he holds "an
Apartheid era flag" thus totally distorting the true meaning of the flag & long struggle
for Boer self determination. Notice the caption under the photo in question.
This is just proof positive that the Western media are lazy journalists at best or are
propagandizing distorters at worst. Perhaps a combination of both. I guess no one
should be surprised that none other than the CBC: the Canadian public broadcaster
has labeled the Vyfkleur quote: "an Apartheid era flag". I doubt they even know that
the flag in the photo in question is even called a Vyfkleur [ five colour ] yet alone that
it was adopted long before the establishment of Apartheid. For those who might not
know [ that's you CBC! ] the Vyfkleur is not & can not possibly be "an Apartheid era
flag" because it was a flag adopted during the second Anglo-Boer War by Boer
Commandos who were fighting against Colonialism [ ie: the forces which later
adopted Apartheid ] & for their freedom & self determination within their half
century old internationally recognized independent Boer Republics. The Vyfkleur
flag was a distinct & clever combination of the national flags of the then two Boer
Republics [ remove the the vertical bar within the left portion of the flag & you have
the upper left portion of the Orange Free State Vierkleur flag ] remove the horizontal
orange bar & you have the Transvaal Vierkleur flag ] which were fighting for their
survival against Britain. This era of course was long before the Apartheid era. The
Vyfkleur flag was also later adopted by the BWB in the past & its members often wore
the flag on the upper region of their right shirt sleeves but it was originally designed
as a war flag by the fighting Boer Commandos during the second Anglo-Boer War.
Link to full hit piece article here.
Neither is it surprising that the CBC totally distorts & distracts from the topic.
Posted by Ron. at 9:55 PM 0 comments
November 30, 2009
Population of the Boer Nation.
The Boer population is estimated at around 1.5 million out of a total White Afrikaans or
Afrikaner population of about 3.5 million. This article from about 5 years ago lists this
number. The fact that the Boer population is the smaller segment of the White Afrikaans
population demonstrates that the Boers are marginalized under any umbrella macro
designation [ like Afrikaner ] referring to White Afrikaans speakers in general & as such any
attempts the actual Boer people make from time to time to find self determination is often
erroneously even maliciously labeled as an "extremist" segment of a non existent monolithic
population which was a technique started with the Maritz Rebellion of 1914 [ ie: it was a
Boer movement not an Afrikaner one ] & continued up to the present. Just imagine the
obvious absurdity of asserting that Canadians are "extremist" for exercising [ or even seeking
to pursue ] self determination outside of the context of the bulk of the North American
population.
Posted by Ron. at 10:09 PM 0 comments
July 17, 2009
The Cape Frontier: birth place of the Boer Nation.
The Boer people are often presumed to be "Europeans" & are
also often conflated with the Cape Dutch Afrikaners but in fact the Boer people were not born
in Europe nor were they born among the Cape Dutch but in fact the Boer people were born on
the Cape frontier. When a number of the poorest members of the Caucasian folks at the Cape
began to trek northward & eastward during the late 1600s & all throughout the 1700s they
became the earliest migrating pastoralists who left the towns of Cape Town / Stellenbosch /
Franschhoek & Paarl & were soon called Trekboers named after their nomadic & pastoral
lifestyle they adopted in order to survive on the harsh Cape frontier. The Cape frontier
consisted of everything to the north & Paarl & to east of Stellenbosch right up to the Brak &
Sundays Rivers. The Boers developed their own language on the frontier which historians
have classified as Eastern Border Afrikaans or Cape Frontier Afrikaans. Further evidence of
where the Boer people germinated. The Cape frontier was the crucible which created the
Boer Nation. The town of Swellendam which was established in 1745 was the first town the
Dutch East India Co. set up within the Cape frontier in an attempt at controlling the Boers &
this town would be one of the first Boer Republics established in 1795 when a number of the
frontier Boers declared republics & rebelled against the Dutch power.
Minority Rights - Does the Boer or the Afrikaner qualify for human rights given their
history - or does it only pertain to the minorities of the rest of the World?
The right to identity has secured a prominent place in the discourse of human rights and
certain privileges, like inherent right to life, that safeguard minorities against gross human
rights violations are basic human rights for any member of the human race, but ironically, it
excludes the Boer/Afrikaner. Thus Boers/Afrikaners cannot make claim to minority or human
rights or the right to self determination. Neither can we claim protection via International law
because we are automatically excluded as we “might”, reflect a desire to go back to
apartheid.
In her book, Minority protection in post-apartheid South Africa: Human Rights, Minority
Rights and Self-determination, Kristin Henrard, expert on minorities and human rights and
professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, explicitly states that Article 27 ICCPR
(http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm), the international law provision on minority
rights par excellence, is generally referred to when the right to identity is directly related to
minority protection.”
Article 27 states: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist,
persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the
other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own
religion, or to use their own language.” But what if you are not allowed to exercise that right
because you are not allowed the right to identity?
She further continues to state: “the right to identity has secured a prominent place in the
discourse of human rights” but then furthermore states that ” but at the same time confines
the scope of such special measures. Minority protection cannot be used to support claims for
measures that would institute certain privileges for (members of) minority groups that cannot
be justified by the demands of substantive equality. In this regard, one can think of some of
the demands of a section of the Boer/Afrikaner minority in post-apartheid South Africa as
they (might) reflect a desire to go back to apartheid times or preserve affluence and
advantages obtained during apartheid.”
To summarize an expert, who is informing human rights and minority rights policy for the
UN: The Boer/Afrikaner will not be afforded the rights as set out in the ICCPR and is denied
the right to an identity. They cannot claim human, civil, minority rights or the right to self
determination. Will somebody then please tell me how two wrongs make a right?
Furthermore, during the African Human Rights Day conference in Parktown, held on Oct 21
2009 it was obvious how this denial of human rights to Boers/Afrikaners gives the
government unlimited right to intimidate and dehumanize Boers/Afrikaners with
approval from the Human Rights Commission. According to the Human Rights
Commission chairman: “as a Sotho whose ancestral lands were taken away before 1930 he,
as a member of the black majority, was not prepared to make any kind of concessions to the
civil rights of the Boer/Afrikaner minority.” Thus confirming that the Boer/Afrikaner are
excluded from enjoying civil rights in South Africa and in direct violation of: Article 3, of the
ICCPR: The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men
and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.
At the same conference, the IEC president, Pansy Tlakula said: “South Africa does not need a
special dispensation to cater for indigenous groups and minorities as its Constitution
protects and guarantees the cultural, linguistic and religious rights of all her people,” Which
again shows that they are denying their true intentions, the collective punishment strategy of
the white minority under the constitutional veil.
It should then rather read: The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the
equal right of men and women, excluding the Boer/Afrikaner in South Africa, to the
enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.
The above then clearly explains how warnings by Dr Gregory Stanton are ignored
although they would have been accepted as early warning mechanisms to draw the
attention of Member States to situations where racial discrimination has reached alarming
levels if it was any other minority group. It also explains why whites are being raped,
tortured and murdered under the blanket excuse that it is just crime, but it does not explain
the hours of torture they have to endure and where often nothing is stolen.
It will also explain why Boer/Afrikaner students are denied their right to education and why
whites are being denied access to work and the economic sector through affirmative action
and black Economic Empowerment.