PRETORIA, Gauteng — In a strategic move to empower local communities, AfriForum and March and March have officially announced a new partnership aimed at delivering practical, grassroots-level solutions across South Africa. The collaborative working group, championed by AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel and March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, seeks to bypass traditional political “talk shops” in favor of actionable initiatives that address crime, infrastructure decay, and the urgent need for cross-cultural cooperation.
During the foundational discussions, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma characterized the engagements between the two civil society groups as highly constructive. She emphasized a shared vision where South Africans collaborate irrespective of race or cultural background, focusing on the common goal of securing a stable and prosperous future for the next generation.
Kriel reinforced this objective, noting that while the organizations may hold differing views on certain topics, their mutual commitment to the rule of law and the eradication of lawlessness provides a robust foundation for joint action. The newly formed working group is explicitly tasked with identifying practical avenues for cooperation, leveraging the established grassroots footprints of both entities to ensure the alliance yields measurable community improvements rather than mere symbolic gestures.
This alignment coincides with March and March’s broader initiative to establish the “South Africa First Forum.” This upcoming platform is designed to champion unity in diversity while advocating for critical issues such as mother-tongue education. Kriel highlighted that these objectives naturally overlap with AfriForum’s operational reality. He clarified that while the organization is known for its focus on Afrikaner culture, approximately 80% of its daily activities—ranging from road repairs and vegetation management to neighborhood watch patrols and legal action against entities like Eskom—serve the broader national interest.
A significant component of the partnership involves institutional knowledge sharing. Kriel detailed AfriForum’s two-decade journey of scaling from a three-person staff to a donation-funded movement of roughly 300,000 members. He expressed a willingness to share the lessons learned from this growth—including navigating early mistakes—with March and March. This mentorship approach aims to help the newer movement build its own financial and organizational capacity, supporting ambitious community-driven projects such as the establishment of a new university and the preservation of African languages in secondary education.
Addressing potential skepticism, Kriel firmly pushed back against narratives suggesting the alliance is problematic. He directly countered claims from certain critics, including veteran journalist Max du Preez, who have historically accused AfriForum of harboring apartheid-era sympathies. Kriel dismissed this as a fringe viewpoint, citing research that indicates only 2% of Afrikaners hold such beliefs. He urged the public to evaluate the organization based on its tangible track record rather than ideological criticism.
To substantiate this, Kriel pointed to AfriForum’s active cooperation agreements with the Barolong Seleka, AmaBhele, and Nkungumathe communities. These partnerships focus on practical agricultural upliftment projects, with Kriel noting that 95% of the individuals directly supported through these specific community initiatives are Black South Africans.
Furthermore, Kriel addressed concerns surrounding March and March’s recent interactions with former President Jacob Zuma and the MK party, which some detractors argue mobilizes supporters along ethnic lines. He stated unequivocally that South Africans have no reason to be worried. The core mission of this partnership, he argued, is to forge a new path forward. It is a future that explicitly rejects both the historical governance of the National Party and the current trajectory under the ANC, choosing instead to empower communities to take direct, collaborative action in building a successful nation for all.
