By Claire Martens*

The Freedom Front Plus, under the direction of its leader, Pieter Mulder, is a political party with self-inflicted contradictions. When looking at any political party in South Africa, you are bound to find trouble in reconciling a dichotomous stance of anti-this and pro-that, especially when you are looking through a human rights lens. Not surprisingly, there are few aspects of the FF+ that one can appreciate from a distance; especially if your heritage puts you outside of the party’s focus.

Protecting the women – which women?

For example, the FF + calls strongly for the protection of women and children but, while this is not a restrictive call, as a pro-Afrikaner right-wing group, the unsaid premise is that the protection should be afforded to white [Afrikaner] women and children in particular. Taking into account the patriarchal nature of Afrikaner cultural and religious values, where women are…