South African Activist Urges Afrikaner Self-Governance in DC Visit

A Call for Peaceful Secession in South Africa

A South African activist is urging U.S. leaders to support a peaceful secession by the country’s white Afrikaner minority, warning that South Africa is collapsing under violent crime, corruption, and anti-white policies. Ernst Roets, a filmmaker and spokesman for the advocacy group Lex Libertas, has been making his case in Washington, D.C., where he met with lawmakers and think tanks. He described South Africa as a “failed state” and highlighted issues such as farm murders and race-based laws that target Afrikaners.

Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch, German, and French settlers, have lived in southern Africa since the 1600s and have developed a distinct language and culture. Lex Libertas argues that they should be recognized as an indigenous African nation. The group’s report proposes decentralization, cultural autonomy, and sanctions on South African leaders who oppose the effort. Roets emphasized that if Afrikaners are not considered indigenous to South Africa, the question remains: into what country are they indigenous?

The Afrikaner cause gained global attention after President Donald Trump warned South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House meeting of a “genocide” against the country’s white minority. Ramaphosa dismissed this claim, arguing that violent crime affects all races in South Africa and that black citizens are also frequent victims. The Daily Caller’s reporting has documented the brutality and racial targeting behind South Africa’s farm attacks, which disproportionately impact the Afrikaner minority.

Lex Libertas argues that the deeper problem lies in the political system, which is centralized and unable to reflect the country’s deep ethnic and cultural divisions. The group calls for South Africa to be reimagined not as a single nation but as a region of distinct peoples. According to the report, South Africa is best understood as a region whose size and diversity rival Western Europe’s. Before 1910, it was a patchwork of Boer republics and British colonies alongside African kingdoms and tribal territories, all now jammed under one highly centralized state.

Roets stated that South Africa is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world, home to various cultural communities, nations, and even different civilizations. In light of this reality, the group argues that the only sustainable solution for South Africa lies in the decentralization of the political system to facilitate autonomy and self-governance for the various nations living there. Solutions could range from cultural or territorial autonomy to full secession, depending on Pretoria’s willingness to cooperate.

Lex Libertas advocates for five core reforms: repeal of race-based laws, recognition of traditional authorities, equal application of the justice system, secure property rights, and prosecution of officials who incite violence against minorities. To push for these changes, Roets was dispatched to Washington to rally international support for what the group calls an “ultimatum” to South Africa’s ruling elite.

Among the actions Lex Libertas is calling for include public and diplomatic pressure, targeted sanctions on South African officials, exemptions from tariffs for companies not participating in the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program, and strict conditions on future trade deals and government loans. The group is also seeking U.S. recognition of the Afrikaner push for self-governance as a legitimate political cause, along with investment in parallel institutions, protection for activists, and formal negotiations with Pretoria toward a self-rule agreement.

While insisting they’re not asking America to solve South Africa’s internal problems, Lex Libertas argues that U.S. involvement is in Washington’s strategic interest. Roets pointed out that U.S. involvement could counter South Africa’s anti-American posture on the global stage, citing the country’s voting patterns at the United Nations and deepening economic ties with BRICS. He argued that Washington should support “pro-American nations living within South Africa” and warned of the global fallout from a failed South African state, including mass migration and greater Chinese influence across the continent.

Roets emphasized that the stakes are high, noting that four of his colleagues were previously investigated for treason after similar outreach efforts in the U.S. He acknowledged the risk of retaliation but insisted it’s a risk worth taking. “It’s not treason to criticize your government,” he said. “I cannot predict how they would respond to that. It is foreseeable that there will be complaints of treason, which, of course, would be ridiculous, because it’s not treason.”

He described South Africa as “a region inhabited by a long list of nations” that became the petri dish of a failed “globalist experiment that tells us that we need to abandon cultural [and] national identities.” Roets concluded, “We would rather fight to the death than dissolve who we are.”