The AVF was formed by General
Constand Viljoen and three other generals from the
South African Defence Force (SADF), and launched on 7 May 1993. The other three generals were Major General Tienie Groenewald, a former chief of military intelligence, Lieutenant General Koos Bischoff, former chief of operations of the SADF, and Lieutenant General Cobus Visser, a former head of investigations of the
South African Police. The AVF President was Dr
Ferdi Hartzenberg, leader of the
Conservative Party, and the chief secretary was Colonel Piet Botha. The AVF existed as an umbrella group for right wing groups rather than a party in itself. Other groups involved included the
Boerestaat Party, the
Herstigte Nasionale Party, and the
Oranjewerkers. The AVF aimed to disrupt the
1994 elections. The AVF established a
Volksrepubliek werkkomitee ("People's Republic working committee") to gather information and put the ideal of Afrikaner self-determination into practice. In September 1993 this committee recommended a
Volkstaat solution incorporating
Pretoria, parts of the
Transvaal, and northern
Kimberley and Northern
Natal, which would exist as a state with the right to secede from a federal South Africa; in November 1994 a new proposal was suggested for a smaller state with just autonomy. The negotiations held with the ANC displeased hardliners within the AVF, with Hartzenberg demanding nothing less than an independent Afrikaner homeland. The AVF rejected the
interim constitution of South Africa which was passed in November 1993. In 1994 the AVF sought to have the Boers recognised as an indigenous people by the
United Nations but were unsuccessful after 82 other indigenous peoples signed a petition against the AVF's participation. The AVF also participated in the
1994 Bophuthatswana crisis in which several members of the
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging were killed. The AVF was disbanded in November 1996. == References ==