Lex Libertas Releases Landmark Report in Washington, D.C.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lex Libertas Releases Landmark Report in Washington, D.C., Calling for the Realignment of South Africa’s Political Dispensation

Washington, D.C. — Dr. Ernst Roets, Executive Director of the advocacy group Lex Libertas, is engaging with prominent American stakeholders this week to advocate for increased U.S. pressure in support of a more viable political dispensation in South Africa. These stakeholders include political representatives, government officials, think tanks, media outlets, and leading podcasters.

To advance this effort, Lex Libertas today releases a report titled Reclaiming Freedom: A Two-step approach to a more sustainable dispensation for South Africa, which explores these matters in more depth. The report presents an overview of South Africa’s ongoing crisis, makes the case for international intervention, and outlines practical measures the U.S. and other interested parties should consider to help resolve the crisis. This report and visit builds on previous engagements by the organization.

The report proposes a two-step strategy to avert regional catastrophe in Southern Africa and to establish a more sustainable political order through decentralization and self-governance. It argues that what is commonly portrayed as South Africa’s crisis—violent crime, economic collapse, infrastructure decay, and minority persecution—are in fact symptoms of a deeper, systemic issue: a highly centralized political system fundamentally disconnected from grassroots realities in one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse regions in the world.

Key findings of the report include:

• What is commonly referred to as South Africa’s “crisis” can be summarized in three overlapping categories: a destructive policy framework, state failure, and the persecution of minorities.

• These are symptoms—not the root cause. The underlying issue is a centralized political system that fails to accommodate South Africa’s vast cultural and ethnic diversity. The country should be viewed as a region composed of multiple nations, rather than a single unitary state.

• Minority communities—especially Afrikaners—face systemic discrimination through more than 140 exclusionary race-based laws, state-driven economic exclusion, the planned confiscation of private property, the targeting of Afrikaans schools, state-sanctioned hate speech, discriminatory double standards entrenched by the justice system, and public scapegoating.

• The ruling ANC’s foreign policy has become increasingly anti-Western, positioning South Africa as a BRICS-aligned antagonist to the United States and the Western world, while aligning with some of the world’s most abusive regimes.

• Afrikaners have lived in South Africa since before the American Declaration of Independence and should be recognized as a nation indigenous to Africa.

• U.S. interests in South Africa can be framed in three categories: (1) mitigating the South African government’s hostile actions toward the U.S. and the West; (2) supporting pro-American and pro-Western partners in the region; and (3) preventing the regional destabilization that would have far-reaching consequences for the Western world.

• While state sovereignty is a fundamental principle in international law, it is equally recognized that under certain conditions—particularly in cases of state failure or repression—international intervention is not only justified but necessary.

The report calls for a two-step approach from the United States and the broader international community:

An ultimatum to the South African government

The report proposes that the U.S. and its allies deliver an ultimatum requiring the South African government to implement the following reforms to stabilize the region:

1. Repeal the extensive network of exclusionary race laws
2. Guarantee property rights and market freedom
3. End racial double standards in the justice system
4. Recognize the authority of cultural and traditional leaders
5. Prosecute political leaders who incite violence against minority communities

Should the South African government refuse to act, the report calls for immediate international measures—split into two categories:

1. Strategic interventions directed at the South African government, including:
1.1 Public and diplomatic pressure through foreign governments, non-governmental entities and international corporations;
1.2Targeted sanctions against government leaders (not society at large);
1.3The exemption of companies not registered for Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and companies registered in foreign countries such as the United States from export tariffs;
1.4 Strict preconditions to trade agreements; and
1.5 Strict preconditions for the extension of loans to the South African government.
2. Increased support for Afrikaners and other pro-Western minority communities, including:
Recognition of the pursuit for self-governance in the territory of South Africa as a legal and legitimate pursuit;
Tangible support for change actors (individuals and institutions actively involved with promoting such measures);
Protection of change actors from potential targeting by local authorities;
Strategic investment and support toward establishing de facto conditions for self-governance; and
* Negotiations with the South African government toward settlement in favour of self-governance

Dr. Roets will be discussing these recommendations throughout the week in Washington, D.C., including at a keynote event hosted by the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) on July 24. Lex Libertas’ aim is to highlight the urgent need for action and the strategic value to the West of promoting constitutional freedom and regional stability in Southern Africa.

“We love our country, the land, and the people who live there, and we will continue to work toward peace and stability in the South African region,” Dr. Roets stated. “This includes respect and cooperation among the various nations that inhabit the region.”

“However, it is abundantly clear that the country is heading down a destructive path—one from which there will be no deviation unless the system itself is reimagined. We do not believe in quick fixes or utopian solutions, but any reasonable person must agree that the pursuit of self-governance is both legitimate and necessary, especially under the current conditions. If those in power in South Africa are unwilling to change course, then decentralization is the most viable path forward.”

Lex Libertas is a think tank and advocacy group working toward a viable political dispensation for the peoples of South Africa based on freedom, decentralization, and self-governance.

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