The papers were heavy this past weekend with news that a large group of Afrikaner institutions and leaders had, for the first some since 1994, put together an agreed approach to the state, or perhaps the governing ANC, with a view to reaching a “cultural accord” that addresses a long list of Afrikaner concerns.

It isn’t clear why it mattered that, in the words of a press release accompanying their statement, “the significance of this [statement] is evident from the fact that this is the first joint declaration of the Afrikaner community since 1994”. It was essentially an Afrikaner government that negotiated a route to democracy with the ANC, so why the need after 30 years to do it again?..