By Ongama Mtimka
The issues are not new. They have been a source of continued strain throughout the democratic period. They have hitherto shaped major political economic events. The biggest of those have to be the severe electoral losses by the ANC in the last national general elections in 2024, a trend that became more rapid in 2016 but had been persistent since the 2009 elections.
What is new in the national debate is an intensified voice by parties and organisations who have styled themselves in rhetoric or deed as representatives of predominantly white constituencies. Lobby groups like AfriForum and research agencies like the Institute for Race Relations, as well as leading figures in Afrikanerdom have started campaigning against what they call “142 race laws” in South Africa, which they argue are worse now than under apartheid.
These groups have had marathons of meetings purportedly with “influential people with access to the Trump Administration” to lobby for sanctions against key leaders of the ANC because of what they allege is the ill-treatment of white people in South Africa.
In other words, not only have the poor and unemployed, the majority of whom are black, been critical of what democracy and freedom have meant in the democratic period but even the representatives of those hitherto seen as wealthy and privileged have also began questioning their freedom in South Africa.
A combination of domestic factors and international factors can be said to be fuelling this development. Let us start with the international factors.
The Trump effect
The rise of Donald Trump and Elon Musk following the former’s electoral victory in 2024 resulted in a greater spotlight shining on race relations in South Africa. The plutocracy in the White House – yes, it has all the hall marks of a plutocracy – has used half-truths, false accusations, and inuendo to force South Africa to fall in line with Washington’s preferences on the international stage.
President Trump inherited the White House with the US facing strained relations with South Africa over some of Tshwane’s foreign policy moves that irked the US, namely a seemingly pro-Russian stance on the War in Ukraine and the case brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice over allegations of Genocide, among other war crimes.
Coupled with foreign policy differences can be said to be what appears to be the unfettered influence of the PayPal mafia, led by Elon Musk but with the Likes of Pieter Thiel and other billionaires with South African ties.
These plutocrats have interpreted what is happening in South Africa in the same terms as “wokeness” and the programme of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the US. Thiel, addressing a college gathering regards the moves as a diversion strategy. Elon on the other hand has been on a collision course with Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment legislation, with Starlink compelled to have 30% local black ownership as a precondition for its licensing.
The social media posts of Elon Musk, Trump, and several right-wing accounts coincided with an increasing agitation by leaders claiming to represent white, particularly Afrikaner interests in the country. Furthermore, lobby groups have frequented Washington, openly campaigning for the sanctioning of the ANC and its leaders due to “very bad things happening to [Afrikaners] in South Africa, as Trump has stated in several interviews and posts.
I am certain that though the rise of Trump in Washington cannot be said to have been the genesis of moves by right wing lobby groups to agitate for Afrikaner interests and tarnish South Africa’s reputation internationally, it has certainly been emboldened by it.
In fact, the nexus between the plutocracy in the White House and the domestic lobby groups have all the hallmarks of a psyop. Its quick results in simmering devise social media rhetoric and campaigns makes what the Guptas tried to do with Bell Pottinger a storm in a teacup.
Domestic elements
Regardless of how conflicting interests between lobby groups and their Washington counterparts question the rationale and legitimacy of the cause of the local agitators, there are certainly domestic grievances that can be said to be legitimate enough to warrant some attention if South Africa’s commitment to creating a more united country is going to be sustained.
Firstly, many young white youths are opting to go overseas to irk out a living for themselves, either feeling alienated by redress policies when it comes to employment and business or, beyond feelings, after having tried to secure employment and failed to do so.
It should be mentioned that 31 years into democracy, failure to get employment or succeed in business is more likely to happen if you are black than white, if unemployment data is anything to go by.
As such, white youths may be affected more by a strained economy and information asymmetries than racial preferences since their black counterparts experience the same plight more severely, even among similarly skilled cohorts. For those reasons, some have stated that the lobby groups are struggling with the idea that ‘white people are becoming ordinary in South Africa [instead of retaining their privileged position]’.
Secondly, the signing into law of the Expropriation Act, the National Health Insurance Act, and the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act despite the new Government of National Unity, has irked lobby groups that thought the GNU accords supervisory powers over the conduct of executive authority. It should be stated though that these laws are not inherently anti-white in a general sense and would affect, though in extremely particular circumstances, white elites than the average white person.
Lastly but not exhaustively, there is the persistent discomfort raised by groups like the Economic Freedom Fighters that create the impression that white people are not welcome in South Africa if land inequality persists. The challenge with groups like these is that they trend more for side shows like songs and slogans in rallies than offering practical solutions to solve the grievances they purpose to represent, much like their right-wing counterparts.
The more stable path to sustainable problem
Perhaps the mutual feeling of displeasure with the status quo in South Africa presents us a better platform for constructing a mutually beneficial future because for once in the democratic period both the rich and the poor and many in-betweens accept that things do not work.
The time has come for less finger pointing and nostalgic remembrance of the “good old days” but more collaboration to overcome our collective challenges. This requires two things, more humility across the racial divide, yet more courage, compassion, and boldness to offer solutions that can work. The terms for that are neither white supervision nor black vengefulness. Those attitudes are not going to help us.
Dr Ongama Mtimka is the Acting Director of the Raymond Mhlaba Centre for governance and Leadership in the faculty of humanities at Nelson Mandela University. He writes in his personal capacity.