Some white South Africans have rejected an offer from President Donald Trump to resettle in the United States following his claims that they are facing oppression.
On Saturday, groups representing the white minority in South Africa responded to Trump’s offer of refugee status and resettlement, saying, “Thanks, but no thanks.” The plan, outlined in an executive order Trump signed on Friday, halted all U.S. aid to South Africa as a punitive measure for what his administration called “rights violations” against some white citizens.
The Trump administration accused the South African government of permitting violent attacks on white Afrikaner farmers and enacting a land expropriation law that enables authorities to seize Afrikaners’ agricultural properties without compensation.
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South Africa’s government has denied these allegations, asserting that there is no systematic targeting of white farmers and labeling Trump’s interpretation of the land law as misleading.
Afrikaners, descended primarily from Dutch settlers with French and German influences, have lived in South Africa for over three centuries. They speak Afrikaans, a language derived from Dutch, and are culturally distinct from other white South Africans of British or other heritage. Whites comprise approximately 7% of South Africa’s 62 million citizens.
Two prominent Afrikaner organizations swiftly rejected Trump’s offer, according to an AP report. “Our members work here, want to stay here, and are going to stay here,” said Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Afrikaner trade union Solidarity, which claims to represent around two million people. “We are committed to building a future here. We are not going anywhere.”
At the same press conference, Kallie Kriel, CEO of the Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, reaffirmed, “We have to state categorically: We don’t want to move elsewhere.”
Trump’s decision to sanction South Africa, a key U.S. trading partner, followed accusations from both him and his South African-born adviser Elon Musk that the country’s Black-led government holds an anti-white stance. However, the depiction of Afrikaners as an oppressed minority in need of asylum surprises many South Africans.
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“It is ironic that the executive order provides refugee status for a group that remains among the most economically privileged in South Africa,” said the South African Foreign Ministry. The ministry also criticized U.S. policies, noting that while Trump offers refuge to Afrikaners, other vulnerable global populations are being deported or denied asylum.
“There is a campaign of misinformation and propaganda against South Africa,” the ministry added.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson dismissed Trump’s claims, stating, “South Africa is a constitutional democracy. We value all South Africans, Black and white. The assertion that Afrikaners face arbitrary deprivation and, therefore, need to flee their homeland is entirely unfounded.”
More than 30 years after apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa remains deeply unequal. Whites still generally enjoy a higher standard of living than Blacks, owning roughly 70% of private farmland. A 2021 South African Human Rights Commission study found that only 1% of whites live in poverty, compared to 64% of Blacks.
Sithabile Ngidi, a Johannesburg market trader, expressed skepticism about claims of mistreatment. “Trump should have come to South Africa to see for himself instead of taking the word of Elon Musk, who hasn’t lived here for years and doesn’t relate to South Africans,” she said.
However, Trump’s stance has amplified concerns among some white South Africans who feel discriminated against as part of post-apartheid redress efforts. Afrikaner organizations, including Solidarity and AfriForum, strongly oppose land expropriation laws and other policies they say undermine their rights, such as legislation that limits Afrikaans in schools and affirmative action policies favoring Black South Africans.
“This government is allowing a certain section of the population to be targeted,” AfriForum’s Kriel claimed, thanking Trump for highlighting Afrikaners’ concerns. Still, he reiterated their commitment to remaining in South Africa.
The South African government insists these policies are necessary to address the injustices of colonialism and apartheid, during which Black South Africans were dispossessed of land and stripped of fundamental rights.
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