The South African government has criticized the United States’ decision to prioritize refugee applications from white Afrikaners, asserting that claims of a white genocide in South Africa have been largely discredited and lack substantial evidence. The government cited an open letter from prominent Afrikaner community members that rejects this narrative and describes the relocation initiative as potentially racist.
Officials noted that the limited number of white South African Afrikaners choosing to relocate to the U.S. is indicative of a lack of persecution, challenging the justification for the U.S. policy. On Thursday, the administration of President Donald Trump announced the lowest annual cap for refugee admissions on record, set at 7,500.
Current figures regarding the number of white South Africans granted refugee status under this scheme are not available. Additionally, South Africa’s latest crime statistics do not suggest that white individuals are more likely to be victims of violent crime compared to other racial groups. Earlier this year, President Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners following South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s enactment of a law permitting government seizure of land without compensation under specific circumstances.
White South Africans, who represent just over 7% of the country’s population, primarily own most private farmland. Tensions escalated earlier this year when South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled after asserting that Trump was promoting a narrative of white victimhood.
In a meeting in May, President Trump claimed that white farmers in South Africa were facing persecution, supported by a photo he held up, which was later identified by Reuters as not being from South Africa but from a conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The White House has not commented on the accuracy of this claim. In addition, a video presented by the administration as evidence of burial sites for murdered white farmers was later linked to a 2020 protest, raising further questions about the depiction of violence against this group.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e3de5ny14o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss