Afriforum's Head of Policy and Action Ernst Roets File picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA) Ernst Roets resigns as Solidarity leader after 20 years.
Image: Oupa Mokoena/Independent Newspapers
Head of policy at the Solidarity Movement Ernst Roets has resigned from the Afrikaner group, saying he is going to live out his calling and make a greater contribution outside the movement.
The former AfriForum deputy CEO announced his resignation on X on Wednesday.
After 20 years with the Solidarity Movement, Roets stated in a brief announcement that he realised there was greater opportunity outside the movement for him to make a more significant impact for the people.
“After 20 years of involvement with the Solidarity Movement, I have decided to resign. I made this decision because I became convinced that there is more space for me outside the Solidarity Movement to live out my calling and truly mean something to our people - that I will be able to make a greater contribution outside the movement.
“Over the past few weeks, I have once again realised how incredible my wife and children, my family and my close friends are. I am overwhelmed by a feeling of gratitude, more than anything else.
“My excitement about the chapter ahead is much greater than the sadness with the chapter I am closing. I am deeply grateful to the Solidarity Movement, and especially AfriForum, for the opportunities I have received, the experiences I have gained and the friends I have made.
“I wish the leadership of the Solidarity Movement all the best with the great task that rests on their shoulders,” the statement reads as he expressed gratitude to the movement.
However, Roets' resignation comes as AfriForum and its partners are under fire for allegedly spreading false material in an attempt to provoke US intervention in South Africa's internal affairs.
Their campaign is said to have pushed US President Donald Trump to invite Afrikaners to apply for refugee status in the US and to halt HIV financing aid.
The offer of refugee status was turned down by AfriForum, which claimed that Afrikaners would rather stay in South Africa.
In August 2023, Roets was named the movement's head of policy after serving as AfriForum's CEO, where he was in charge of strategy and foreign policy.
He claimed that the government and politicians contributed to the rise in farm killings in his 2018 book *Kill The Boer*.
IOL Politics
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