News24 | REPORTING NOTES | PR, lobbying and big money: Inside our R1.6bn AfriForum investigation

News24 has, since June, published three investigative pieces examining the financials of AfriForum, a key public-facing and fundraising element of the broader Solidarity Movement.

Assistant editor for investigations Pieter du Toit sits down with investigative journalist Kyle Cowan to discuss the importance of reporting on AfriForum, and what was found.

The discussion reveals the focus on AfriForum started after the organisation became increasingly involved in lobbying efforts, speaking to US officials and travelling to the White House for meetings after President Donald Trump announced he was cutting aid and would launch an Afrikaner refugee programme in February 2025.

This week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on individuals who are “responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa”.

This announcement came after engagements between President Cyril Ramaphosa and US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell in August where a list of US demands was handed over.

Our coverage of AfriForum’s finances:

READ | AfriForum’s BEE payday: Empowerment critics invested R3m through ANC financier

In June, News24 showed that AfriForum had previously had an investment through ANC-linked Thebe Stockbroking.

Thebe Stockbroking is owned by the Thebe Investment Corporation, a company majority owned by one of the ANC’s largest donors, the Batho Batho Trust.

Thebe is BEE royalty, founded by ANC stalwarts to raise funds for the party.

A diagram showing the link between the Thebe entities and Batho Batho Trust and how AfriForum's R3 million investment relates to Thebe Stockbroking.

Graphic - Sharlene Rood

READ | Inside AfriForum’s money machine: How lobby group splurges on salaries, marketing

The second article was published in July and gave a broad overview of AfriForum’s income and spending – R1.6 billion collected in six years.

News24 was able to establish these amounts after obtaining AfriForum’s annual financial reports from the Department of Social Development. By law, the NGO must file these reports every year.

While this information is public, AfriForum does not itself deliver regular financial reports to its members and while the organisation does report extensively on its activities, the money side of the business has always been opaque.

The reports revealed, for the first time, details of AfriForum’s cash flows – and in particular, how it spends the money it collects from members.

AfriForum spent R1.5 billion of its R1.6 billion income between 2019 and 2024, which based on responses from the organisation, were grouped.

Graphic: Sharlene Rood

READ | A new Jerusalem: Solidarity, AfriForum spent R108m to ‘take over’ Orania

Finally, in September, News24 reported on not only AfriForum but also Solidarity’s spending in the Afrikaner-enclave of Orania.

Through the financial reports and through disclosures to News24 by Solidarity, we were able to determine the quantum of the financial support in terms of loans, donations and other mechanisms to Orania entities – a little more than R108 million.

The Solidarity Movement’s entry into Orania was also not without controversy, and a senior Solidarity source was able to provide detail on the concerns from a group of Orania residents who resisted the moves.

A representation of the funding by Solidarity and AfriForum on projects in Orania.

Graphic: Sharlene Rood

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