AfriForum has been accused by the African National Congress (ANC) of undermining South Africa’s internal stability.

This was an accusation made in ANC Today, the party’s official newsletter.

The author of the piece, George Magoma, took issue with AfriForum’s recent submission to the Khampepe Commission, a presidential inquiry into delays in prosecuting apartheid-era crimes. Magoma said that AfriForum’s submission to the Commission amounts to an insult to victims of apartheid and a betrayal of the Constitution’s call for justice and healing.

AfriForum had asked the Commission to also look into rights abuses perpetrated by the ANC.

The Khampepe Commission, established by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is probing unresolved cases such as the disappearance of Nokuthula Simelane and the killings of the Cradock Four. Its mandate is to address why prosecutions for apartheid crimes, classified internationally as crimes against humanity, have been so slow to proceed since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings.

According to the ANC Today piece, AfriForum and its trade union ally Solidariteit have: “opened deep wounds” by downplaying apartheid atrocities and attempting to: “recast the narrative” of South Africa’s past.

ANC leaders remain extremely concerned that inquiries into the extent to which the party was involved in informing the apartheid-era security forces about the activities of liberation activists.

In addition, ANC Today accused AfriForum of spreading disinformation abroad, particularly in the United States, in a campaign that allegedly damaged the economy and risked trade relations such as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The piece labels these actions: “treasonous” and likens AfriForum to: “enemies within” the democratic state [AfriForum argued in favour of AGOA in Washington].

Magoma further charges that AfriForum’s opposition to transformation laws, including the National Health Insurance Act, the Expropriation Act, and the Employment Equity Amendment Act, reveals a: “racist and anti-constitutional” agenda aimed at preserving apartheid-era privilege. South Africans, he argues, must: “unite to expose and isolate” the organisation’s influence.