‘WE believe Afrikaner/ Boere reporters should stand together. We all have a common goal of self-determination and as the media we can disseminate our information to the Afrikaner people and exert a great influence,” says Henk van der Graaf, chair of Die Mediaklub – the group officially formed about two weeks ago in reaction, it appears, to the Black Journalists Forum (BJF).
Van der Graaf denies this. “It certainly was not in reaction,” he says, speaking in Afrikaans from the offices of Die Patriot, the tabloid newsletter he edits and which is based at the Conservative Party premises.
“Die Mediaklub is a social club for reporters with the same goal of preserving the Afrikaans language and the heritage of the Afrikaner people,” he says.
Flanked by a colleague from Radio Pretoria, Annemarie Joubert, Van der Graaf explains the need for a club exclusively for Afrikaner reporters. “It is important that you unite people with common goals rather than diluting the strength of any group by having people of different cultures under one organisation. It is important that Boere journalists stand together and preserve what is theirs and make sure no one encroaches on their culture.”
Van der Graaf’s office is slightly cramped. There is a poster of Paul Kruger lying on top of a filing cabinet; a Vierkleur flag of an old Boer republic on his desk and several framed black and white photographs of Boere “heroes” on the wall. There is a plaque which reads: “Onthou jul afkoms. Wees getrou! [Remember your heritage. Be true to it.]”
Van der Graaf and Joubert complement each other. While she talks of the need to preserve and nurture the Afrikaans language, he talks of the importance of having this “precious language polished for the youth”.
“We want an academy specifically for Afrikaans journalists in the long term. The reasons for an academy are that it will allow Afrikaans journalists to be trained in an environment in which they feel comfortable and they will be taught by people who share the same political views making communication easier,” says Joubert.
Van der Graaf agrees – Die Mediaklub is definitely a long-term group as the Afrikaans language and its people are under threat.
He argues that if it is acceptable to have a BJF, then it should be acceptable to have an exclusively white journalists group. “They [BJF] are being racist by calling themselves black. We are not racist. We are just protecting ourselves because policies like affirmative action threaten us,” he says.
Joubert concurs: “Our Mediaklub is not just a social event, although socialising plays an important part. It is to discuss issues which directly affect Afrikaner journalists. For example, all the press releases we receive are in English and it takes a long time to translate them into Afrikaans. We envisage a process where we will unite, pull together all our resources and improve the quality of our journalism by helping each other.”
She says the group currently meeting under the banner of the Die Mediaklub is small. Van der Graaf argues that numbers are unimportant. “It is not our numbers but our right-wing beliefs that make us strong. We want to improve the lot of Afrikaans journalists, but at the same time we want to improve the lot of the Afrikaner volk [people] as a whole,” he says.
Van der Graaf says the idea for a press club was initiated last October, but often the meetings degenerated into drinking sessions. Thus, although socialising is still top of the list, the monthly meetings are split into two sessions. First there is a lecture by an invited guest or a general discussion is held, followed by “mingling”.
Van der Graaf explains that Die Mediaklub has two sets of members. The first are bona fide journalists, while the second group are people involved in the media such as public relations officers.
He admits that most of Die Mediaklub’s members are from small publications, mostly conservative newsletters or community radio stations. None of the Afrikaans mainstream reporters have been recruited but “we have an open invitation to all the media”, he says.
Van der Graaf cautions that anyone, provided they are white with the same aspirations of rescuing the volk from being swallowed up by blacks, can join.
“We all want to reach our ultimate goal of white Afrikanerdom, just like the BJF is forming a group to reach their specific goals,” he says, adding that his organisation is linked to the all-white Mynwerkers Unie, among others. Why? Because they have common goals.
However, he says, it would be “suicidal” to link up with a political party as Die Mediaklub’s members come from various backgrounds, albeit most of them are ultra- conservative.