AfriForum reports the state to the UN
THE CIVIL rights organisation AfriForum has complained to the UN that the South African government illegally tried to stop it from taking part in UN activities.
AfriForum said it had been told by the government that it was not wanted at the UN because it was “too arrogant” and “too loud” in trying to raise awareness about issues such as farm murders and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s treatment of South Africans in his country.
The government’s efforts to block its registration at the UN “looked like the behaviour of a totalitarian state that secretly wants to oppress minorities,”AfriForum said yesterday.
It said it had been trying to register in the UN’s section for NGOs since 2011. That should have been purely procedural as UN member states represented on the selection panel were prohibited from accepting or rejecting applications on political grounds.
But AfriForum said Pitso Montwedi, the chief director of human rights and humanitarian affairs in the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco), had instructed a South African government representative at the UN in New York “to do everything in his ability to ensure that AfriForum’s application fails”.
It said the government representative had told Ernst Roets, the deputy chief executive of AfriForum, in New York that the government could find nothing wrong with its application except for the politics.
It’s like it secretly wants to oppress minorities
“The representative informed Roets that, according to the government, AfriForum is ‘too loud’ and ‘too arrogant’ and that this is the real reason why government ‘will fight’ to keep doors closed at the UN for AfriForum.
“As an example of AfriForum’s arrogance, the representative referred specifically to the fact that AfriForum uses UN forums to create awareness surrounding farm murders and that AfriForum protested against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe being invited to attend the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma at the time.
“It said the protest was in reference to the oppression of South African citizens in Zimbabwe.”
AfriForum said it had submitted its complaint about the South African government’s behaviour to the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
Roets said Pretoria’s efforts to block its registration “looked like the behaviour of a totalitarian state that secretly wants to oppress minorities. If the government however thought that their actions will help silence AfriForum, they achieved exactly the opposite”.
He added that AfriForum’s application for registration at the UN had not failed, but had been postponed until the next session.
Dirco spokesman Clayson Monyela said: “In view of the fact that they have approached the UN, we must allow that process to unfold to its logical conclusion.”