AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel
Gallo Images/Beeld/Felix Dlangamandla
The ANC has condemned AfriForum’s alleged “racist disinformation campaign”.AfriForum labelled a raid on an “Afrikaner refugee” centre,where seven Kenyans were found to be working illegally,as “harassment” and criticised authorities.AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel complained that the ANC was trying to intimidate him,but said it motivated them to fight even harder for human rights. The ANC has called on South Africans to defend their democracy and to reject “AfriForum’s racist disinformation campaign”.
The largest party in South Africa’s governing coalition also called on the government to act within the law against “any organisation or individual that persistently undermines constitutional institutions,spreads racial hatred,or colludes with external forces against South Africa”.
On Tuesday,the Department of Home Affairs raided the “Afrikaner refugee” centre in Sandton,finding seven Kenyan nationals working there on holiday visas. They have since self-deported. The centre is processing the applications for Afrikaners to repatriate to the US,following President Donald Trump’s lies that Afrikaners are being persecuted in South Africa.
AfriForum’s CEO Kallie Kriel described the raid as “harassment” and “intimidation”.
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“[AfriForum] condemns this behaviour by the South African authorities. This behaviour shows a disregard for the human rights of the applicants present. Such conduct is not unexpected from a government that still refuses to condemn human rights abuses by those calling for the killing of Afrikaners through the ‘Kill the Boer’ chant,” Kriel posted on social media platform X.
I have just confirmed with U.S. officials that the South African authorities did indeed raid a U.S. refugee facility in Johannesburg yesterday,detaining U.S. staff who have been processing Afrikaner refugees. The applicants who were present on the premises were subjected to…
— Kallie Kriel (@kalliekriel) December 17,2025
On Thursday evening,the ANC issued a statement saying it “unequivocally condemns Kallie Kriel and AfriForum for their latest actions,which constitute a reckless,racist,and deliberate campaign to undermine South Africa’s sovereignty,discredit lawful state institutions,and incite fear through manufactured disinformation”.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said: “This conduct is no longer fringe rhetoric; it is a calculated political project aimed at destabilising our democracy and fracturing social cohesion.
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“The lawful intervention by the Department of Home Affairs against unauthorised foreign nationals operating illegally in South Africa has been cynically distorted by AfriForum into a false narrative of racial persecution.”
She added:
This is not a misunderstanding of facts but an intentional attempt to poison public discourse,incite racial hysteria,and portray South Africa as a hostile state to external right-wing networks. Such behaviour is unpatriotic and dangerous.
Bhengu said AfriForum had again chosen to “posture as a conduit for foreign political interests instead of a responsible organisation rooted in South Africa’s constitutional reality”.
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AfriForum has made several trips to the US,where it has met with officials of the Trump administration.
Bhengu continued: “By internationalising domestic matters,exaggerating false claims of victimhood,and lobbying external actors against our country,they reveal themselves as wedge drivers whose politics depend on division.”
“The ANC calls on the people of South Africa to rise and defend our democracy,rejecting AfriForum’s racist disinformation campaign. We call on workers,youth,faith communities,progressive Afrikaners,and all peace-loving South Africans to refuse to stay silent in the face of provocation.
“Our freedom was won through sacrifice and struggle,not for a small group “to distort reality,insult the intelligence of our people,and endanger national unity.
“We further call on the South African government to act firmly and decisively,within the law,against any organisation or individual that persistently undermines constitutional institutions,or colludes with external forces against South Africa. Our sovereignty is non-negotiable and no one is above the law.
“South Africa was forged through courage,solidarity,and a shared commitment to justice and belongs to all who live in it. The ANC will not allow racist disinformation to reverse our gains or to drag our nation backwards. The people must speak out,defend their nation and mobilise against such elements. It is time we expose the truth,and defend the democratic project.”
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Kriel took this as a threat.
The ANC leadership’s attempts in this media statement to intimidate me personally with blatant lies,and in the process to place my personal safety at risk,expose the #ANC as a party that is increasingly undermining democratic principles and basic human rights. Unfortunately,… https://t.co/3O7QT421AU
— Kallie Kriel (@kalliekriel) December 19,2025
In a posting on X on Friday morning,he stated that the “ANC leadership’s attempts in this media statement to intimidate me personally with blatant lies,expose the #ANC as a party that is increasingly undermining democratic principles and basic human rights”.
READ | Pieter du Toit: Masters of disinformation: Exposing Kriel,AfriForum’s MAGA playbook
He also claimed that News24 was participating in the “intimidation efforts”.
“This intimidation will,however,not force me or [AfriForum] into silence,” he said.
“On the contrary,it motivates us to fight even harder,for the sake of everyone in the country,for the protection of human rights. The struggle for human rights and for the country necessarily includes resisting the ANC’s corruption,maladministration,and its attempts to turn South Africa into another Zimbabwe through expropriation without compensation.
“It would be disloyal to the country not to fight to prevent the kind of suffering to which Zimbabweans have been subjected from being repeated in South Africa.”
He said AfriForum would continue to oppose the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act,which,according to him,“threatens the continued existence of Afrikaans schools and,consequently,Afrikaans cultural communities”.
“Furthermore,we will not rest for as long as [President Cyril] Ramaphosa and other ANC leaders refuse to unequivocally condemn the ‘Kill the Boer’ chant as a call for ethnic violence against Afrikaners,” Kriel posted.
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