PRETORIA - The Boer-Afrikaner Volksraad views forthcoming talks with government as a step closer to their "right for self-determination for our own people in a peaceful way".

This follows a recent court application by the group to have their own state. "The Boer-Afrikaner people are distinctive people and we have been fighting for the past two centuries to gain our independence," Andries Breytenbach, chairman of the group told reporters in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Breytenbach said he believed with the necessary "political will, wisdom and faith", the Afrikaner nation could have its own independent state. He added that wanting independence was not a form of racism or "a new form of apartheid".

"Let&39;s keep racism out of it. This is about self-determination for our nation. We have fought against being ruled by different nations in the past, so this is no different."

He continued: "Just like Germans want to be governed by Germans, Japanese want to be governed by Japanese, (so) Afrikaners want to be governed by Afrikaners. We do not have a problem with the current government, we have a problem with the system. We are not happy with the democratic situation. We inherited a situation which we didn&39;t ask for. Making up only 6% of the population is a huge disadvantage for us as there is no way we can inform the political future of the country."

The discussions that according to Breytenbach will include President Jacob Zuma, or his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, or both, and will be held before the end of August. The talks are expected to consist of the concept of territorial self-determination for what the organisation calls "Boer-Afrikaner people".

"We see the willingness of government to hold talks with us in a positive light. In a letter received on 17 July from the State Attorney, the Volksraad was told that government chose to settle this issue through negotiations rather than litigation," he said.

Breytenbach, who could not give the exact number of members belonging to their organisation, said that a possible poll among Afrikaners who want their own state would form part of the talks with government.

"We want a country of our own where we are allowed to run our own affairs. We were a self-governing nation before 1994 and then we lost our independence. We are a minority and have no influence in the political course South Africa is taking," he said.

"If we can attain our own territory we can be a stabilising factor for the whole southern Africa region."

Breytenbach said he could not comment on the proposed position of this territory.

Presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj, was unavailable for comment.

