Extracts from a speech by Pieter Vorster, Chairperson of the Afrikanerbond, at a Conference on Minority Rights - Cape Town 21 November 2013

Minorities - The inconvenient truth in South Africa

"We the people of South Africa" as declared in the Preamble to the 1996 Constitution of South Africa, "believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity". It is a lofty ideal, but it is tragically not a true reflection of South African society. The Constitution is the foundation of our national unity but paradoxically that unity is supposed to be based on the recognition of our diversity. 

Although no fixed statistics exist, estimates suggest that 10 to 20 per cent of the world's population belong to minorities. This means that between 600 million and 1.2 billion people are in need of special measures to protect their rights, given that minorities are often among the most disadvantaged groups in society, their members often subjected to discrimination and injustice and excluded from meaningful participation in public and political life (according to the United Nations' website on minorities).

Using the constitutional definition of diversity in South Africa, the following can be stated:

• 97.9% of the SA population of 51.7 million speaks one of the 11 official languages or sign language. Besides the official languages, many other African, European, Asian languages are spoken in South Africa;
• 60% of the South African population belongs to one of 22 major religious affiliations.

The exact number of cultural communities cannot be determined as culture includes, but is not limited to language, religion, tradition, history, beliefs, behaviours, objects and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group.

These people constitute the minorities of South Africa. This is a reality which cannot be ignored, whichever way one looks at it.

It is worth noting that the South African Constitution does not refer to the internationally recognised concept of minorities, but rather refers to communities. Yet the three types of community that are defined in the constitution, namely cultural, religious and linguistic communities, are also the three international criteria which define ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities nam ely culture, religion and language. However, this is where South Africa differs from international standards and norms.

This then bring us to the South Africa of 2013. Much has been said and written about the rainbow nation and its unity since 1994. Today everything in South Africa is, however, again defined along racial lines and more specifically, according to groups of Black Africans, Coloureds, Whites and Indians/Asians. This is according to Statistics SA's Census 2011. This is the guideline used for South African governmental racial policies of 2013 and this is the only yardstick which defines policies of affirmative action, broad-based black economic empowerment and the ever-increasing calls for transformation . 

In a speech to the International Peace Symposium in Brussels as recently as 4 November 2013, former president FW de Klerk warned that the "most ominous threat to diversity came from increasing demands that minorities should conform to the goal of pervasive and all-embracing demographic representativity in the public, private and non-governmental sectors".

Where the diversity of the South African society defined the rainbow nation of 1994, it is now once again clearly defined along racial lines, nothing more, nothing less. Our diverse society once again experiences racial classification and diversity is ignored. Minorities and the promotion of the right s of minorities have become an inconvenient truth in South Africa.

The inconvenient truth is that the South African government is not following good practices when it comes to minorities and their participation in the politics of our country. The government's unofficial position under the guise of "transformation" and "non-racialism" is that minorities must be fused or assimilated into the majority. Such a position does not create space for political participation by minority groups and spells danger for South Africa's future; besides, in this regard, it militates against international good practice.

The inconvenient truth is that South Africa is a nation of minorities, thus the Preamble to our Constitution and our motto on the coat of arms (literally translated from Khoisan) which means ‘Diverse People Unite'. The emphasis has been to unite South Africa at all costs, even if at the expense of minorities.

The inconvenient truth is that this very institution where we assemble (the National Assembly) is supposed to hold state institutions accountable to support constitutional democracy. In this regard specific mention must be made of the South African Human Rights Commission and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rig hts of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. When even these institutions are not held accountable and are hampered from functioning adequately, how can the rights of minorities be protected?

This sad state of affairs can, however, be rectified:

1) We need the political will to endorse internationally recognised minority rights in South Africa. This can be done in the form of a charter on the rights of minorities as an addendum to the Constitution. Such a charter should be based on international conventions and declara tions on minority rights. This should include not only the rights of minorities but should also spell out the obligations of the state and government towards minorities.

2) The promotion and protection of minority rights should appear on the agendas of the bigger political parties. It is too often the case that the bigger parties only pay lip service to issues such as language rights, but are not actively promoting and canvassing for language rights. This seems to be the reason why government does not even attempt to promote all eleven official languages in an equal manner. Only when our political parties actively engage in the promotion of the rights of minorities, will the situation of South Africa's minority groups improve. < /p>

3) The involvement of civil society at this stage is very limited. It is for this reason that the Afrikanerbond, as an organisation within civil society, is becoming increasingly involved in minority groups and the promotion and protection of the rights of such groups in this country. Our programmes and initiatives will henceforth focus on the plights of all South African minority groups. 

 4) It is necessary to maintain a healthy balance between own interests as applied to language, culture or minority groups on the one ha nd, and national interest as applied to all citizens of South Africa on the other. To focus solely on national interest is wrong as that undermines serving the greater good. Various minorities have committed themselves towards creating a successful South Africa and therefore denying these minorities their rights or ridiculing them would not serve the greater good either.

What is needed is a new undertaking to honour the words in the Preamble: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, and that we are indeed united in our diversity. No progress can be made in respect of unifying South Africa when our diversity is not at the same time respected, promoted and celebrated.

Issued by the Afrikanerbond, November 21 2013

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