Special Hearings — Political Party Recalls — 1997-05-16

GEN VILJOEN: Thank you Chairperson.  The questions are becoming tricky.  (General laughter)
 Chairperson no, I have given you a very clear idea.  A political party receives a mandate from a number of people. The present situation of the Freedom Front is that we are trying to satisfy the demands of the Afrikaner people under the present circumstances which might last for five, ten years, I don't know how long and we as a party have often spoken about this and I think if I now expand, open up the doors I might get many more people to come and join me and maybe I will sit a bit further to the right in Parliament after the coming election, but this is not my task. My task is to first complete this task of caring for my people.  And the moment I've completed that, yes then we can have a good look at it.  
 I want to say this, the problem that we are speaking about now is the problem of all countries in the world today.  All the countries are battling with this idea of multiracial or pluralistic societies.  And I see this very simply in the case of South Africa in the near future.  
 What we need in South Africa is an approach to say, there are people that would like to follow the individualistic democratic line, let them do so.  There are people that would like to say, we want to be strongly Zulu orientated, we have a Zulu nationalism and we want to live according to the Zulu traditions, in our kingdom we want to be real Zulus and therefore we would like to have the kingdom of Zulus to be a sub area of KwaZulu Natal.  
 Can I quote another example to you.  There might be the Venda people in the North, the Northern Province, if they really feel very strongly about maintaining their culture and about governing themselves they have a specific area, they might form within Vendaland a sub region of the Northern Province, and in some way get the okay or the authority to govern themselves as a community.  
 And thereby I am not trying to be divisive.  All I say is some people are individually minded.  Some people are collectively minded.  And let us in South Africa make provision for all.  Because do we eventually want?  We want happy people and happy communities in South Africa and this is the way to peace.  If we try to force individual liberalism then the collective democratic people will come up in arms.  If you over-emphasise that part then the other people will come up.
 But I am sure that democracy is such a flexible concept that you can, for the purpose of preventing conflict, you can find ways and means and we have studied the principle of self-determination and we are absolutely convinced that it has enough scope for application in South Africa for the whole of our problem as Afrikaner people.
 I also think, and I make a forecast today, that we are not the only people that in future will be interested in self-determination.  And this is where I see where my role as a political party can be.  I've had discussions, for example, with the Griqua people, and I've found those Griqua people to feel the same as I do and they speak Afrikaans too, and those people would like to have a say on their own affairs.  I think it is possible, but I, as a party, will be quite prepared to accept those people to follow the same line because our line, our basic line in the Freedom Front is that we should have self-determination.  We are looking for a way in which we can fit into the new South Africa in, as I said, a way in which our value will be of use to ourselves and to the people of South Africa.  So this is what we hope to achieve.  
 And I think, as I say, it's not different from the rest of the world.  We have the worldwide accepted concept of self-determination, that's all we want to apply, but I have to first finish this.  I am not power hungry.  I don't want to try to jump to bigger support before I have done what I undertook to do for my electorate.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much.  Dumisa Ntsebeza.

GEN VILJOEN: Can I just - Mr Mulder.

CHAIRPERSON: Excuse me, sorry.

MR MULDER: No problem Mr Chair.  Chairperson if I could just add something.  Dr Boraine asked the question in terms of national reconciliation and the whole question of national unity, in the end what do we understand in those terms.  I think it's very important that we take note of a scientific that has just been completed by Professor Hennie Coetzee at the University of Stellenbosch, it was published by the Conrad Ardenhauer Foundation, and in that study, I think we should take note of that, of the respondents only 17% described themselves, how they see themselves as South Africans.  I think we must take note of that reality.  And if you ask the question in terms of how do you define an ethnic group then I think the reality is that it is not an objective test in terms of certain norms and criteria that are being laid down.  It's a subjective test.  It's in terms of how people see themselves, whether they associate, whether they want to be part of something, it's not objective it's a subjective thing and the responsibility lies with the individual, where he would like to be or not to be.  That's the reality.
 I think, if we speak in terms of national unity and where we would like to go it's no use to try and shy away in South Africa, and that's a political question of the reality of the ethnic diversity and we are a very plural society.   And maybe we should take note of the new winds of change blowing in the continent of Africa, which comes from the east, from Ethiopia and the OAU, and the Scottish even further away, but on the reality where they are trying to address this question by saying, let's create a national consciousness on the reality of ethnic pluralism.  I think if we go in terms of the political suggestion we might find a way that not only 17% of the people see themselves as South Africans but that might change in future.

CHAIRPERSON: Dr Boraine says he's got such a minute follow-up.

DR BORAINE: Thank you Chairperson.  Dumisa Ntsebeza has allowed me to ask this, he will obviously ask his own question.
 If you distinguish between objectivity and subjectivity then you create an even greater problem for me, and Advocate Potgieter must forgive me for referring to him but as you, Sir, referred - ja it's a democratic country, what if he subjectively would like to join your party?

GEN VILJOEN: I have made this public many times because I am often asked this question at public meetings.  If Advocate Potgieter feels himself part of the Afrikaner nation, if he associates fully with the Afrikaner history in the South African context there is nothing to prevent him from becoming a member of the Freedom Front.
 I would like to add that I have a quick test that I usually give to people in this way, and that is, if there is one thing in the Afrikaner history around which the Afrikaner mentality has rallied it is the Day of the Covenant, that day to us has really been building our nation, and for many, many, many years, every year we have spent at least one day, and this has certainly contributed towards our togetherness, and if I ask Advocate Potgieter do you accept responsibility in upholding the Day of the Covenant celebrations, and he says yes, then I say right, then you are fully fledged.  That's a quick side test.

ADV POTGIETER: Sorry Mr Chairman, I thought you were going to ask me whether I can play rugby.  (General laughter)

GEN VILJOEN: Yes, that also.