AfriForum's CEO Kallie Kriel says apartheid was not a crime against humanity.

Eusebius McKaiser, who hosted Kriel on his Radio 702 show on Monday to discuss farm murders, asked him what he thought about apartheid.

Afterwards, McKaiser took to Twitter, saying: "Kallie Kriel tells me 'I don't think Apartheid was a crime against humanity.' WTF [sic]".

Kriel called News24 to explain the context of what he had said during the interview.

"He asked me for my views on apartheid and I stated that we do not justify apartheid. We believed that the system infringed on the dignity of people on the basis of race."

He added that "apartheid was wrong".

"We do not beat around the bush about that. What I said to Eusebius is that a crime against humanity is the gassing of six-million Jews in gas chambers. In my view, you cannot equate that to the 700 people that were killed by the security police during apartheid."

Without providing proof, Kriel was adamant that only 700 people were killed during apartheid.

"It was wrong to infringe on the rights of the people... [but this] cannot be equated to (Adolf) Hitler or communism. That equation cannot be made. You cannot equate crimes against humanity with apartheid.

"There was not a mass killing of people," said Kriel.