History : Freedom Front Plus


General C Viljoen <
Accord with ANC <		  

Election 1994
Twenty-seven political parties participated in the Kempton Park negotiations before April 1994. At that time the Freedom Front was founded under the leadership of General Constand Viljoen, and the party signed an accord with the ANC (African National Congress). Nineteen parties participated in the elections of 27 April 1994, but only seven reached Parliament. The Freedom Front, then barely a month old, came fourth after the ANC, the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

Constitution
The most important event to occur during this initial political period was the writing of South Africa’s new Constitution. The Freedom Front Plus actively participated in this process and focused especially on the inclusion in the constitution of the principle of self-determination and group rights.

This resulted in the Freedom Front playing a key role in the inclusion of the following articles in the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996):

  
Article 30 & 31 <  
  >> Article 30 and 31, which recognises collective rights for language and cultural communities;
 
Article 185 <  
  >> Article 185, which provides for a Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Language Communities, and
 
Article 235 <  
  >> Article 235, which refers to the notion of territorial self-determination.
 
   
Problems
Although the Freedom Front Plus succeeded in including in the Constitution the rights of groups and self-determination, the party still regards the Constitution as fundamentally defective. It still does not meet the modern interpretation of self-determination according to international law. The Freedom Front Plus does however see the Constitution as a point of departure to move closer to Afrikaner ideals.

Freedom Front Activities and Actions
Since the acceptance of the Constitution, the Freedom Front Plus has resolutely piloted actions to protect Afrikaner interests. For example, a complaint was submitted to the Human Rights Commission at the United Nations regarding murders in cities and on farms, with specific emphasis on farm killings.

The Freedom Front Plus threatened the South African government with a law suit, insisting that census forms be provided in all official languages.

The Freedom Front Plus won its case with the Press Ombudsman regarding a complaint against a derogatory article about the Afrikaner in a newspaper. The newspaper was forced to apologise. The Freedom Front Plus is also increasingly making use of the Pan South African Language Board to oppose the neglect of Afrikaans and other languages.

Youth
Today the Freedom Front Plus enjoys ever-increasing support from Afrikaner youth. The Freedom Front Plus has for the past eight years won the Student Council elections at the University of Pretoria (the South African university with the highest number of Afrikaans-speaking students).

>> Afrikaner History