The Boerstaat Party ( en, Boer State Party) is a Boer nationalist

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

founded on 30 September 1986 by Robert van Tonder. It was never officially registered as a political party because it was unable to rally 500 persons under one roof, a requirement under South African electoral law for official political party status. It was never represented in the South African Parliament, neither in the apartheid era nor after democratisation. In 1989, it joined the

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (), meaning "Afrikaner Resistance Movement", commonly known by its abbreviation AWB, is an Afrikaner nationalist paramilitary organisation in South Africa. Since its founding in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche and ...

(AWB) in declaring support for Jaap Marais, the leader of the

Herstigte Nasionale Party The Herstigte Nasionale Party (Reconstituted National Party) is a South African political party which was formed as a far-right splinter group of the now defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, evokin ...

and has worked with the HNP on occasion since. The party was a charter member of the

Afrikaner Volksfront The Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF; ) was a separatist umbrella organisation uniting a number of right-wing Afrikaner organisations in South Africa in the early 1990s. History The AVF was formed by General Constand Viljoen and three other gene ...

coalition group. It has also operated with the paramilitary group, the ''Boere Weerstandsbeweging'' (Boer Resistance Movement) led by Andrew Ford. The BSP were the third group in South Africa to openly advocate the restoration of the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

and the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

and call for the secession of these territories from the Union of South Africa. Other groups advocated this notion in the past, with the

Maritz Rebellion The Maritz rebellion, also known as the Boer revolt or Five Shilling rebellion,General De Wet publicly unfurled the rebel banner in October, when he entered the town of Reitz at the head of an armed commando. He summoned all the town and dema ...

of 1914 and the

Ossewa Brandwag The ''Ossewabrandwag'' (OB) (, from af , ossewa , translation = ox-wagon and af , brandwag , translation = guard, picket, sentinel, sentry - ''Ox-wagon Sentinel'') was an anti-British and pro-German organisation in South Africa during Worl ...

of the 1940s being the most notable . This policy was later taken on board by the AWB and other rightist movements. The BSP further argued that the

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

citizens of these nineteenth century republics should be considered as a distinct nation from the

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...

, known as a Boerestaat. The BSP has been noted for adopting controversial views on AIDS and came out in support of the views on the subject expressed by

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

. The party has also taken an active role in ensuring that the

Voortrekker Monument The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the a ...

is cared for, with current leader Coen Vermaak a leading advocate in this campaign. The current leader, Coen Vermaak, has become noted for his conspiratorial beliefs in white genocide. He has argued that the South Africa government is using contraceptives and abortion to stall white population growth. He stated: 'I am convinced the abortion law is aimed at getting rid of white babies'. Vermaak also believes that AIDS is hoax to encourage the use of condoms among white South Africans. The party rejects

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

, although it has said that voting rights should not be limited to whites. Vermaak believes that social status should determine voting power and that, for instance, doctors and homeless people should have different amounts voting power. In 2015, 33.0% of medical students were white, despite making up only 8.4% of the population.

References

External links

Official site
{{South African political parties 1986 establishments in South Africa Afrikaner organizations Boer nationalism Nationalist parties in South Africa Political parties established in 1986 Political parties in South Africa Political parties of minorities White nationalist parties