History
The AVF was formed by General Constand Viljoen and three other generals from the South African Security Forces and launched on 7 May 1993. The AVF President was Dr Ferdi Hartzenberg, leader of the Conservative Party, and the chief secretary was Colonel Piet Botha.
The AVF existed as an umbrella group for right wing groups rather than a party in itself. Other groups involved included the Boerestaat Party, the Herstigte Nasionale Party and the Oranjewerkers . The AVF aimed to disrupt the 1994 elections.
The AVF established a Volksrepubliek werkkomitee (People's Republic working committee) to gather information and put the ideal of Afrikaner self-determination into practice. In September 1993 this committee recommended a Volkstaat solution incorporating Pretoria, parts of the Transvaal, and northern Kimberley and Northern Natal which would exist as a state with the right to secede from a federal South Africa; in November 1994 a new proposal was suggested for a smaller state with just autonomy. The negotiations held with the ANC displeased hardliners within the AVF, with Hartzenberg demanding nothing less than an independent Afrikaner homeland. After negotiations failed Viljoen's position in the AVF was undermined by the hardliners; Viljoen left and subsequently formed the Freedom Front. The AVF rejected the interim constitution of South Africa which was passed in November 1993.
In 1994 the AVF sought to have the Boers recognized as an indigenous people by the United Nations but were unsuccessful after 82 other indigenous people signed a petition against the AVF's participation.
The AVF was disbanded in November 1996.
Read more about this topic: Afrikaner Volksfront
Famous quotes containing the word history:
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—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
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“A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
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—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)