The Freedom Front was formed in 1993 by Constand Viljoen, the former chief of the South African Defence Force. Viljoen came out of retirement to lead a group of Afrikaners who wanted to form a political party.
As head of the Afrikaner Volksfront, Viljoen was instrumental in convincing conservative Afrikaners to participate in the new dispensation, through which, he argued, the issue of self-determination should be taken up.
The new Freedom Front Plus, headed by Pieter Mulder, has four seats in the National Assembly.
The party has, however, been on the decline since its first elections in 1994. In the 1999 general elections, they lost 6 seats in the National Assembly from their initial 9 seats they had won in 94. They only regained one more seat in 2004 and they maintained their 4 seats even in the 2009 general elections.
It remains to be seen whether they can improve on their last performance in the upcoming elections.
2014 Elections Manifesto
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) launched its manifesto in Gauteng on 8 March 2014. Read the FF+ 2014 election manifesto.
This is a summary of the key points:
1. Language rights and multi-lingualism
The FF Plus stands for the recognition and development of all South African indigenous languages;
The retention and expansion of Afrikaans’ higher functions;
The party rejects the ‘creeping language imperialism of Anglophiles who want to subject indigenous languages to English’.
2. Education
The party stands for education in the mother tongue of learners;
To bring trade unions with destructive traditions under control;
To instil a culture of hard work, rising standards and honesty from the presidency to the remotest school.
3. “Affirmative” action
The party promises to actively assist people who never reached their full potential due to the defects of the affirmative action system;
To better mobilise Afrikaaners’ economic strengths;
And to strive for Afrikaaners’ economic independence as entrepreneurs.
4. E-Toll
The FF Plus will continue to be at the forefront of the campaign against the Gauteng E-Tolls;
The party believes that the way in which toll fees are collected and enforced, as well as the exorbitant costs of collection, is unacceptable and illegal.
5. The youth and unemployment
The party wants to instil an education and training system that prepares the youth for employment;
It is thus in favour of a youth wage subsidy;
Racially-based affirmative action and unreasonable black economic empowerment must be scrapped.
6. Land issues
The FF Plus is opposed to powers of expropriation as vested in/ with the Minister of Land Reform;
The FF Plus’ view is that unused state land should immediately be used for redistribution and the principle of “willing buyer – willing seller” followed through.
7. Agriculture
The FF Plus supports greater state investment in agricultural research;
The FF Plus recognises the ‘strategic value of agriculture’ as a food producer and employer in South Africa.
8. Policing
The party rejects the actions of police members (more likely ‘deployed cadres’) who regard themselves as rulers and being above the law;
The FF Plus steadfastly believes in the right of competent citizens to bear arms and in suitable instances, use it to protect their life and goods.
9. Health
The FF Plus will campaign for a national partnership between private and public medical services;
The FF Plus is of the opinion that the HIV/Aids pandemic cannot be stopped by medical interventions alone but only through a comprehensive social reorientation.
10 Economic empowerment, social development and poverty eradication
The party believes that that application of growth and development is more suitable rather than racial targets as empowerment methods;
The FF Plus will campaign to promote community-based, social services; the party rejects the application of racial quotas (rather than a means test) in the allocation of government funding for social service organisations.– edited by Sipho Kekana
– By Southafrica.info
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