AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel believes apartheid was not a crime against humanity; rather that it was "wrong" because it infringed on the dignity of its victims.
Kriel was speaking with 702 radio host Eusebius McKaiser on Monday.
"I don't think it (apartheid) was a crime against humanity, but I think it was wrong ... I disagree that it was a crime against humanity, but it was a system that was wrong because it infringed on the dignity of people," he said.
Here are the facts:
Apartheid was repeatedly condemned by the United Nations' General Assembly and its Security Council.
In 1966, the General Assembly labelled apartheid "a crime against humanity" and in 1984 the Security Council endorsed this determination.
As per the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, commonly known as the Apartheid Convention adopted in 1973, it was declared that apartheid is a crime against humanity and that "inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of apartheid" violate the principles of international law.
It also declared criminal the organisations, institutions and individuals committing the "crime of apartheid".
Article 2 of the convention defines the "crime of apartheid" as "inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them". It then lists the acts that fall within the ambit of the crime.
The convention was adopted by the General Assembly in November 1973, by 91 votes in favour and 26 abstentions. Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States were the only countries to vote against it.