[6] Established in 2006 to encourage the re-engagement of Afrikaners in the public sphere,[7] it is closely affiliated with the Solidarity trade union,[8] and has attracted significant controversy because of a statement by its leader, Kallie Kriel, that apartheid was not a crime against humanity;[9][10][11] a court ruled that Kriel did not justify apartheid or align himself with the racially discriminatory policies of the past.

[36] AfriForum successfully complained about a column published on News24 by journalist Pieter du Toit regarding its testimony before the parliamentary committee discussing amending the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.

[37][38] In April 2011, AfriForum opened a civil case against Julius Malema, in the Equality Court after he sang the words “dubul’ ibhunu”, which translates to “shoot, or kill the boer”, at ANC Youth League gatherings.

[49][50] It also addressed racist incidents involving a number of people,[51][52] Dan Roodt,[53][54] and the paramilitary Kommandokorps[55] and has stated that it regards the use of the 'k-word' kaffir to be a "gross human rights violation".

[56] In June 2022, AfriForum opened a hate speech case against the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party for six instances between 2016 and 2019 for singing "shoot the boer" at different events.

[57] AfriForum has engaged with the UN on matters pertaining to minorities' rights and has been officially recognized as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with special advisory status.

[61][62][63][64] AfriForum also undertook a tour of the United States that included meetings with John R. Bolton, staffers for Senator Ted Cruz, and an interview on Fox News.

In 2008 the regional court SADC tribunal ruled that Zimbabwe's land reform was illegal and racist, and that those who had suffered discrimination by having their farms expropriated had the right to compensation.

[74] In a similar case in 2013, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria granted AfriForum an order stopping the Madibeng Municipality from cutting electricity supply to Hartbeespoort.

[91][non-primary source needed] The group's non-university activities include organising adventure camps for school learners and fundraising for children's homes.

[clarification needed] In 2010, three AfriForum Jeug members were arrested after violating an outdoor advertising by-law to protest the proposed name change of Pretoria.

[93] In 2012, a campaign against racial quotas in higher education saw AfriForum Jeug members paint themselves black to protest the alleged discrimination against 30 learners who were turned away from the University of Pretoria.

An agreement by means of a mediation process, as requested by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of the University, and Mfusi had to issue a written apology to the farming community.

[98] The report was originally commissioned by Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande as an investigation into "the initiation practices and acts of Fascism and Nazism which seem to exist at the institution".

[100] The organization has denied this and lodged a successful complaint with the Press Council of South Africa against an article from Mail & Guardian that claimed it promotes the idea of a white genocide.

"[101][102] In October 2010, with regard to AfriForum's response to Absa Bank softening stance on quotas in rugby, Ferial Haffajee wrote in a column in City Press that "while AfriForum is an excellent lobby group with a sense of strategy and tactics, it should be careful that its radical tactics do not dissemble into racist special pleading – a deeply conservative impulse".

[108] In February 2014, Flip Buys from the trade union Solidarity (which is associated with AfriForum) called for a boycott of the Afrikaans newspaper Beeld that reported that a group of Potchefstroom students gave the Nazi salute during their initiation.

[76][109] Towards the end of 2014, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, criticised AfriForum's "Save Afrikaans schools" campaign in a press release.

The judge noted that while some of the statements about rape threats were not literally true, the social media poster is "entitled to a certain amount of latitude in describing the confrontation" due to strong emotions elicited by the issue.

[117] In May 2018, following criticism of AfriForum by a North-West University professor, Elmien du Plessis,[118] Afriforum's former deputy CEO, Ernst Roets, posted a YouTube video where he quoted Victor Klemperer, stating that "if the tables were turned after the Holocaust he "would have all the intellectuals strung up, and the professors three feet higher than the rest; they would be left hanging from the lamp posts for as long as was compatible with hygiene.

He said that AfriForum "now totally dominates the socio-political discourse among white Afrikaners" and that they are "sanctioned by soft editorials and columns by prominent members of the Afrikaans commentariat".

[131] In a radio interview in May 2018, vice chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand Adam Habib criticised AfriForum for "linking up with fascists" such as the French National Front, the Italian Five Star Movement, Germany's AfD and US president Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, whom Habib referred to during the same interview as "a known fascist", during Kriel and Roets' 2018 world tour.

[6] Following recent developments of Trump's offer to assist and punish South Africa for its unfair treatment of whites, Afriforum have reneged on their position and do not want to take up refugee status.