4. Afrikaner Volksfront (AV)

14. The Afrikaner Volksunie (AVU, the Afrikaner People apos s Union) voted against adoption of the various elements of the transition package.

The Alliance consists of the two homelands, the IFP and the White right wing parties making up the Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF, the Afrikaner People apos s Front), including the Conservative Party (CP).

In the South African general election, 1948, in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner dominated Herenigde Nasionale Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party.

Those parties had since established a relationship with the Afrikaner Volksfront under the banner of the Freedom Alliance.

. In May 1993, the Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF, the Afrikaner People apos s Front), a new umbrella organization comprised of 17 White right wing groups, including prominently the Conservative Party, was established with the former Chief of the SADF, General Constand Viljoen as leader.

In the course of negotiations, there have been demands for a separate Afrikaner State to be provided for in the constitution.

(a) Inclusion in the Interim Constitution of a Constitutional Principle on self determination, based on the negotiations conducted with the Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF, the Afrikaner People apos s Front) and others as well as provisions for a mechanism and process for the consideration of the issue of a volkstaat

The Government and ANC agreed that votes cast for FF in the elections would be considered to reflect a desire for Afrikaner self determination. 28

They reasoned that by only having access to Afrikaner resources the South African government could control them more closely than having access to a global language i.e.

Like many African countries, it has diverse ethnic groups, which include the Afrikaner, Baster, Caprivian, Coloured, Damara, English, German, Herero, Kavango, Nama, Owambo, San and Tswana peoples.

. On 6 October 1992, the homeland leaders of KwaZulu, Bophuthatswana and Ciskei, the IFP, the CP and the Afrikaner Volksunie formed the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG).

The only parties refusing to participate in the resumed negotiations were the Azanian People apos s Organization (AZAPO) and the Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging (AWB, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement). 2

We hope that the Inkatha Freedom Party and an array of Afrikaner separatists and supremacists will refrain from boycotting elections and from the armed insurrection that has been hinted at.

The question of modalities for an Afrikaner quot homeland quot or a quot volkstaat quot comprising parts of Transvaal and the Orange Free State is reported to have been discussed. 24

For its part, the coalition of white right wing parties represented the Afrikaner Volksfront, operating outside the framework of the multiparty negotiations, had been aggressively pushing its agenda of a separate white homeland.

(e) That the principle of self determination for ethnic minorities should be included and provision should be made for a mechanism and process to consider the issue of an Afrikaner quot Volkstaat quot

. The concerns of the Freedom Alliance, now largely made up of three organizations, IFP, CP and the Afrikaanse Weerstandbeweging (AWB) the Afrikaner Resistance Movement), and shared by the breakaway Freedom Front, are as follows

On 25 June, right wingers armed with guns, many of them members of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), forcibly broke into and occupied the World Trade Centre, where multi party negotiations were taking place.

The members of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), the Conservative Party and their allies have nothing to fear but fear itself. Violence and the threats of civil war should not be allowed to succeed in South Africa.

These organizations among which the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) is usually mentioned do not hide their sympathy for the national socialist ideology, and several of their members have been found guilty of terrorist attacks throughout 1992 and in 1993.

17. The member parties of the Freedom Alliance (FA), namely, the Conservative Party (CP), Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and the homeland Governments of Bophuthatswana, Ciskei and KwaZulu also members of FA refused to join TEC.

The resolution should also condemn the acts of armed violence favoured by Afrikaner minority resistance groups, and encourage the investigation and punishment of crimes and human rights violations committed in support of apartheid such crimes should not remain unpunished.

When the prisoner of Robben Island, Nelson Mandela, states, in Afrikaans to an Afrikaner audience, that what is done, is done, and looks to a shared future for all South Africans, it sends a powerful message to all of us.

If we recognize that the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Afrikaner Volks Front are important constituents, keeping them engaged in the political process through dialogue on their respective concerns must be seen as an important aspect of the ongoing efforts towards a peaceful transition.

36. The Freedom Alliance, while recognizing the proposals as positive, rejected the package on the grounds that too much power remained in the hands of the central Government and that the changes failed to guarantee the establishment of an Afrikaner volkstaat after the elections.

This political grouping, comprising the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Afrikaner Volks Front, the Ciskei National Independence Party and the Bophuthatswana Democratic Party, has as one of its declared objectives to ensure that the very first democratic elections, scheduled for 27 April 1994, do not take place.

Although the Conservative Party (CP) and the Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging (AWB, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement) condemned General Viljoen apos s decision to participate in the elections, individual members of the CP were included in the list of candidates submitted by him on behalf of FF to IEC.

The parties resumed multi party negotiations on 1 April 1993, signifying a serious effort to include as wide a spectrum of political parties and formations as possible. The only parties refusing to participate in the talks were the Azanian People apos s Organization (AZAPO) and the Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging (AWB, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement) 2 .