The civil rights organisation AfriForum’s campaign to inform the world of the crisis in South Africa and to gain international support for AfriForum’s projects, will be continued in Europe in the coming weeks. As part of this initiative, Ernst Roets, Head of Policy and Action at AfriForum, is on a liaison tour in the Netherlands this week and in Hungary next week.
A memorandum on the ongoing government crisis in South Africa and ways in which the Dutch and Hungarians from their respective positions can add value to a more sustainable solution, will be handed over to important role players and representatives of the governments of the Netherlands and Hungary during this liaison tour. Meetings will be held with, among others, government representatives, political parties, non-governmental organisations and other prominent figures. In these discussions, practical proposals will be presented to the governments of the Netherlands and Hungary on ways in which diplomatic pressure can be applied to the South African government to abandon destructive policies such as the violation of property rights. Roets will also address various meetings in the Netherlands and Hungary on the situation in South Africa. A series of media interviews in these countries have also been scheduled.
Roets explained that this liaison tour is a continuation of AfriForum’s #TheWorldMustKnow campaign which was launched in 2020 and that liaison tours to several other countries in Europe and the rest of the world are already being prepared.
“AfriForum has always placed a high premium on dialogue as a way to find sustainable solutions to political problems. The reality in South Africa, however, is that the South African government does not pay much attention to discussions and proposals that are contrary to their preconceived ideas. That is why foreign liaising is so important – not only because other countries can add value to a solution, but also because foreign liaising is a way to strengthen friendships abroad and put pressure on the South African government to engage in more sustainable solutions,” says Roets.