Afrikaner Nostalgia for Apartheid: South African History

The Unrepentant Past: Ernie Els, Afrikaner Nostalgia for Apartheid, and South Africa’s Unhealed Wounds

The words of Ernie Els, a celebrated South African golfer, have sliced through the fragile veneer of South Africa’s reconciliation. At an international event, Els thanked former U.S. President Donald Trump for the United States’ “help” in supporting the apartheid regime during the Angolan Civil War. This was no mere slip of the tongue. It was a stark revelation of Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid. This sentiment lingers like a poison in the veins of a nation struggling to heal.

His statement was delivered with the ease of a man accustomed to global acclaim. It exposed a persistent truth. Black South Africans are urged to “move on” and “forget the past.” Meanwhile, White South Africans, particularly within the Afrikaner establishment, continue to cradle their history with pride and defiance.

The Double Standard of Memory

For Black South Africans, the past is not a nostalgic relic but a living wound. It is etched into the stolen lands of forced removals. The families are torn apart by pass laws. Communities stay shackled by apartheid’s socioeconomic wreckage. The call to “focus on the future” is directed solely at them. Meanwhile, White South Africans are allowed to revere their past without scrutiny. Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid thrives in this double standard. It is a cultural undercurrent. This undercurrent romanticises the era of white-minority rule as a time of order, heroism, and Western triumph. Els’s remarks are not an outlier. They are a symptom of a society that has neglected to confront its history equitably.

Angola: A Legacy of Violence – Afrikaner Nostalgia for Apartheid

To understand the weight of Els’s words, one must revisit the Angolan Civil War. This was a brutal chapter in apartheid’s regional imperialism. From 1975, South Africa’s Defence Force (SADF), with covert U.S. support, backed the UNITA rebel movement against the Soviet- and Cuban-supported MPLA government. This was no noble crusade against communism. It was a war of aggression to suppress Black liberation and protect White supremacy across southern Africa. The SADF’s incursions left villages burnt, civilians dead, and communities displaced. For Els to thank the U.S. for this alliance is to embrace Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid. It recasts a shameful episode of violence as a moment of Western solidarity.

The Myth of the Noble SADF

The Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid transforms the SADF from enforcers of racial oppression into valiant soldiers defending civilisation. In this revisionist narrative, the Bush War in Namibia is seen differently. The occupation of Angola is viewed in a new light. The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale is interpreted through another lens. At Cuito Cuanavale, the SADF suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of Cuban forces.

The path to a united South Africa requires more than platitudes about reconciliation. It demands a fearless reckoning with the past.

These are portrayed not as acts of imperialist aggression but as chapters in a heroic saga. This mythology is not confined to private gatherings of SADF veterans swapping war stories. It is perpetuated in public spaces. These include Afrikaner cultural festivals and the pages of certain Afrikaans newspapers. It is a deliberate erasure of the truth, one that denies the pain inflicted on Black communities across the region.

A Failure of Reconciliation

South Africa’s democratic transition, hailed as a miracle, was a compromise that prioritised peace over justice. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) offered amnesty to perpetrators without mandating restitution or reparations. There was no systematic effort to dismantle the cultural memory of apartheid within White communities. This oversight allows Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid to fester unchecked. Schools teach sanitised versions of history. Statues of Apartheid-era figures like Louis Botha and Jan Smuts stay in place. Public discourse avoids the hard questions of White complicity. As a result, three decades after democracy, sentiments like Els’s can be voiced without fear of consequence. This situation reveals the fragility of the “Rainbow Nation”.

The Politics of Nostalgia

The Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid is not a neutral longing for the past it is a political act. It fuels resistance to land reform, framed as an assault on “Afrikaner heritage.” It underpins the mockery of affirmative action as “reverse racism” and the preservation of Afrikaans-only institutions that exclude Black South Africans. It is evident in the rhetoric of groups like AfriForum, which claim to defend “minority rights” while opposing challenges to White privilege. This nostalgia is a refusal to accept that apartheid was not an unfortunate error but a crime against humanity, one that enriched a few at the expense of millions.

The Pain of Unequal Memory

For Black South Africans, the Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid is a daily insult. Every mention of the “good old days” offends those who survived Sharpeville and Soweto. It disrespects those who endured the countless unnamed massacres during Apartheid’s reign. A reminder exists that those who suffered most bear the burden of reconciliation.

For Black South Africans, the Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid is a daily insult.

Those who benefited are allowed to preserve their myths of innocence. The renaming of streets is met with resistance. The push for land reform faces opposition. The demand for economic equity often encounters resistance cloaked in the language of “heritage.” This heritage is tied to the violence of apartheid. It was a system that dehumanised and dispossessed to sustain White comfort.

Els’s Words: A Symptom, Not a Blunder

Ernie Els’s remarks were not a political misstep they were a revelation. They laid bare the persistence of Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid, a sentiment that thrives because it has never been challenged. His gratitude to Trump for U.S. support in Angola aligns with a worldview. This perspective sees Black liberation as a threat. It views White supremacy as a defensible cause. This reflects a broader refusal among some White South Africans. They do not want to confront their privilege or acknowledge the moral and material debts of the past. Els, as a global icon, wields a platform that amplifies this nostalgia. He normalises a narrative that should have been buried with apartheid itself.

The Cost of Unaddressed History

The Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid is a barrier to South Africa’s healing. It perpetuates a divided nation. Two histories coexist. One is of suffering and resilience, carried by Black South Africans. Another is of pride and denial, preserved by those who profited from oppression. This division is clear in the economic disparities that persist. South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. Land and wealth are still concentrated in White hands. It is clear in the cultural battles over language, statues, and place names. Afrikaner identity is defended in these battles. This happens at the expense of a shared national future.

A Call for Reckoning – Afrikaner Nostalgia for Apartheid

The path to a united South Africa requires more than platitudes about reconciliation. It demands a fearless reckoning with the past. White South Africans, particularly within the Afrikaner community, must confront their history with humility and responsibility. This means dismantling the myths of the SADF’s heroism. It also involves acknowledging apartheid’s crimes. Additionally, supporting restitution for the land and lives stolen is necessary. The Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid must be named accurately. It is not a harmless quirk. It’s a refusal to accept the moral necessity of justice. South Africa can start to bridge the chasm of its divided memory only through education. Accountability and a commitment to truth are also essential.

The Past That Refuses to Die

Ernie Els’s words were a painful reminder that the past is not dead it is not even past. The Afrikaner nostalgia for apartheid lives in the silences imposed on Black pain. It resides in the myths preserved by those who refuse to let go. It is also found in the casual remarks of those who wield global influence. For Black South Africans, the call to “move on” is an act of violence.

It is a demand to erase their suffering. Meanwhile, others celebrate their privilege. Until South Africa confronts this nostalgia head-on, the wounds of apartheid will continue to bleed. The dream of a united nation will stay a dream. It remains fractured by the weight of an unrepentant past.