Afrikaners are 'winning the victimhood Olympics' - Johan Erasmus, Betereinders

702's Clement Manyathela is joined by Dr Louise van Rhyn, a leadership development expert and social justice activist, and Johan Erasmus, the co-founder of Betereinders.

Listen below:

Recently, a delegation from AfriForum and Solidarity returned home to South Africa, following a visit to the United States.

While there, they met with senior representatives of the Trump administration in the White House.

According to the lobby groups, the purpose of the visit was to "fight for the interests of Afrikaners and South Africa."

Recently, a rhetoric around Afrikaners as a persecuted minority has gained global attention, and in the case of US President Donald Trump, traction.

Trump has claimed 'very bad things' are happening to white Afrikaners in South Africa.

However, while some have sought to take the US up on its offer of relocating Stateside to escape the perceived 'white genocide' happening here, others have said 'thanks, but no thanks.'

So just what is the role of Afrikaners in nation-building in South Africa, some 30 years since the end of apartheid?

Dr Louise van Rhyn says as a starting point, Afrikaners have an uncomfortable history they need to wrestle with.

Van Rhyn recently penned an opinion piece for The Times, 'We need a new Afrikaner story: letting go of fear and embracing belonging'.

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"My generation of Afrikaners, grew up with a sense of superiority that was, Jonathan Jansen says, in our blood."

- Dr Louise Van Rhyn, Leadership Development expert & Social Justice activist

"When you have to give up privilege, it feels like oppression."

- Johan Erasmus, Co-founder - Betereinders

Johan Erasmus is the co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation, Betereinders.

Erasmus says much of the work they do is around reconciliation and encouraging fellow Afrikaners to move away from victimhood.

At the moment, he says, Afrikaners are 'winning the victimhood Olympics', and calls the idea of refugee status for Afrikaners in the US 'ridiculous'.

"My problem is, if you put our pain, and JUST our pain, on the one hand and you make that the whole message that you are telling people, then those truths become half-truths when it's just presented by itself."

- Johan Erasmus, Co-founder - Betereinders

"South Africa is a complex country, and a country that is hurt by a history of hurt, so we need to put WHITE pain... against this other bigger narrative, and I think when you do that statistically, you're going to struggle to make a case, that Afrikaners are being victimised in South Africa."

- Johan Erasmus, Co-founder - Betereinders

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