Afrikaner 'refugee' reveals why he left South Africa
ALABAMA, US - The United Nations defines a refugee as a person who has fled their country to escape conflict, violence or persecution, and seeks safety in another country.
READ: US welcomes Afrikaner 'refugees' from South Africa
South Africa is divided on whether a group of Afrikaners who recently left South Africa for the US, qualify as refugees.
The move has stirred controversy, with critics arguing it politicises the refugee system and ignores those fleeing war, famine, and persecution elsewhere.
Despite this development, most Afrikaner communities say they have no intention of leaving South Africa, insisting their future remains rooted here.
READ: DIRCO warns Afrikaners seeking refuge in US of challenges ahead
In an exclusive interview, Annika Larsen headed to Alabama to speak to one man who packed up his life, and said goodbye to his homeland forever.
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Eyewitness News
2 hours ago
- Eyewitness News
Israel targets Iran's military capabilities
TEHRAN - Israel targeted Iran's air defences and missile launchers on Saturday as it pressed its bid to dismantle its arch-foe's military capabilities, after a night of mutual attacks. Israel's massive strikes on Iran, which it calls an existential threat, have hit nuclear and military facilities, killed top commanders and dozens of civilians, and sought to destroy the country's defence capabilities. Iran has hit back with volleys of missiles that lit up the night sky over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, killing three people and wounding dozens. Following decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time that Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, with fears of a prolonged conflict engulfing the region. Israel began striking Iran early Friday in an operation it has dubbed "Rising Lion", and has since killed several top Iranian generals including senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guards' air arm. On Saturday, Israel's military said it was striking dozens of missile launchers in Iran after announcing it had targeted air defences with a wave of strikes in the Tehran area. Two senior Iranian generals have been killed in Israeli strikes, Iranian state television reported Saturday, as Israel kept up its assault. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that 78 people had been killed and 320 wounded in the first wave of strikes by Israel. Iran called on its citizens to unite in defence of the country as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged them to rise up against their government. Air raid sirens and explosions rang out across Israel through the night, with many residents holed up in bomb shelters until home defence commanders stood down alerts. 'SMOKE, DUST' Israel said dozens of missiles - some intercepted - had been fired in the latest salvos from Iran, with AFP images of the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv showing blown-out buildings, destroyed vehicles and streets strewn with debris. Israeli rescuers said two people were killed and 19 wounded on Saturday by rocket fire on a residential area in the coastal plain. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked dozens of targets in Israel. Israeli firefighters had worked for hours to free people trapped in a high-rise building in Tel Aviv on Friday. Resident Chen Gabizon told AFP he ran to an underground shelter after receiving an alert. "After a few minutes, we just heard a very big explosion, everything was shaking, smoke, dust, everything was all over the place," he said. Rescuers said 34 people were wounded in the Gush Dan area, including a woman who later died of her injuries, according to Israeli media reports. Speaking to CNN, Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said Iran had fired three salvos of ballistic missiles on Friday, some 150 in total. "We expect that the Iranians, who have a considerable volume of ballistic missiles, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2,000, will continue to fire them," Leiter said. In Tehran, fire and heavy smoke billowed over Mehrabad airport early Saturday, an AFP journalist said, as Iranian media reported an explosion. Blasts were heard across the capital as Iran activated its air defences against the incoming fire. Dozens of Iranians took to the streets to cheer their country's military response, with some waving national flags and chanting anti-Israel slogans. 'TIME TO STOP' The attacks prompted several countries in the region to temporarily ground air traffic, though on Saturday morning, Jordan reopened its airspace. Iran's airspace was closed until further notice, state media reported. As fears mounted of wider conflict, UN chief Antonio Guterres called on both sides to cease fire. "Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail," he said on X late Friday. US officials said they were helping Israel defend against the missile attacks, even as Washington insisted it had nothing to do with Israel's strikes on Iran. US President Donald Trump agreed in a call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that "dialogue and diplomacy" were needed to calm the crisis, Starmer's office said. Trump also spoke with the Israeli prime minister, US officials said without elaborating. In a televised address, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to bring Israel "to ruin". The conflict has thrown into doubt plans for a fresh round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Oman on Sunday. After the first wave of strikes on Friday, Trump urged Iran to "make a deal", adding that Washington was "hoping to get back to the negotiating table". The United States and other Western governments have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, an ambition it has consistently denied. Iran said on Saturday its participation in the Oman talks remained "unclear". "It is still unclear what decision we will make for Sunday," the official IRNA news agency reported, citing foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. Baqaei had called the talks "meaningless" in view of the Israeli strikes, which he alleged were carried out with "US permission".
The Citizen
6 hours ago
- The Citizen
Iran launches fresh wave of attacks on Israel
Trump has repeatedly said he will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. This picture shows rocket trails above the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on June 14, 2025, after Iran struck Israel with barrages of missiles after a massive onslaught targeted the Islamic republic's nuclear and military facilities. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) Israel struck Iranian nuclear and military facilities with a barrage of missiles on Friday, killing several top officials and prompting a counter-attack by Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's attack on its arch-rival would last 'as many days' as needed, and cited Israeli intelligence that Tehran was approaching the 'point of no return' on its nuclear programme. Iran called the Israeli air assault 'a declaration of war' and fired dozens of missiles at Israel later Friday and Saturday. ALSO READ: Israel strikes Iran: what we know International calls for restraint are multiplying, as fears grow that the Middle East could be on the threshold of a broader conflict. Here is what we know: Nuclear sites hit Israel's attacks started in the early hours of Friday, a day of rest and prayer in Iran, and continued through the day, on various sites. A key target was a vast underground nuclear site in Natanz, which Israel hit several times, according to Iranian state television. Radiation levels outside the facility 'remained unchanged', the head of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said. Iran said there was limited damage to its Fordo and Isfahan nuclear sites. Iran commanders killed Top brass killed included the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, and armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, with replacements swiftly named by supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The Revolutionary Guards said its aerospace commander, Amirali Hajizadeh, was also killed. He was in charge of Iran's ballistic missile forces. ALSO READ: SA stands in 'solidarity' with Iran after devastating explosion [VIDEO] Iranian media said several nuclear scientists were killed. Iran's ambassador to the UN said 78 people had been killed and 320 wounded in the first wave of strikes by Israel. Ongoing strikes Additional strikes hit sites in Iran's northwestern East Azerbaijan province, with 18 people killed there, state news agency IRNA said. An Israeli military spokesman said 'more than 200 targets' were hit, including nuclear facilities and air bases. ALSO READ: South Africa responds to claims of cooperating with Iran on nuclear energy [VIDEO] Netanyahu's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said, 'There is currently no plan to kill Khamenei and other political leaders. Internet restrictions were imposed across Iran, the country's communications ministry said, adding they would be lifted 'once normalcy returns'. Iran's response Iran launched dozens of missiles at Israel, the Revolutionary Guards and Israel said, hours after the Israeli military said 'most' of the 100 drones fired by Iran were intercepted outside Israeli territory. Early Saturday, Iran launched a fresh wave of attacks, according to state media, with the Israeli military sounding air raid sirens and reporting more inbound missiles from Iran. Israel said its air force was 'operating to intercept and strike where necessary to eliminate the threat'. Israeli rescuers said Saturday that they were treating 21 people wounded in a rocket strike that hit the country's coast. Rescuers said earlier that 34 people had been wounded in the Gush Dan area, including a woman who later died of her injuries, according to Israeli media reports. US involvement? Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the Israeli attacks 'a declaration of war' and urged action from the UN Security Council, which held an emergency meeting on Friday. Tehran had previously warned it would hit US military bases in the Middle East if conflict occurred. The United States pulled out non-essential personnel from several sites days ahead of the Israeli attack. US President Donald Trump said Israel fully informed him of its raids ahead of time, but insisted Washington was not involved. ALSO READ: SA joins other countries condemning Israel's attack on Iran He warned Iran that the 'next planned attacks' will be 'even more brutal' and said Tehran should cut a deal to roll back its nuclear programme 'before there is nothing left'. Trump has repeatedly said he will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, warned Iran not to target US interests or personnel in the Middle East. Iran's nuclear programme Tehran has long denied seeking atomic bombs but had been enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the 3.67-percent limit set by a largely obsolete 2015 agreement with major powers. However, Iran's 60-percent enrichment level is still short of the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead. The United States and Iran had been holding talks on Tehran's nuclear programme. The next round, scheduled for Sunday in Oman, now looks to be cancelled. Reactions The attack and Tehran's response are fuelling international alarm. Many capitals have urged restraint, fearing the consequences if the Israel-Iran conflict widened and drew in the United States, and if Middle East oil production and shipments were impacted. The UN's atomic energy agency planned an emergency meeting for Monday. UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Iran to halt their conflict, saying: 'Peace and diplomacy must prevail.' ALSO READ: Iran geared to cement its ties with SA Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Syria closed their airspaces, and several airlines cancelled flights servicing the region. Oil prices surged on Friday, trading sharply up to around $75 a barrel before falling back a little. Analysts underlined the risk to the 20 percent of the world's crude oil supplies that are shipped through the narrow Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.
IOL News
12 hours ago
- IOL News
Trump's white South African resettlement plan and the global colour line
The narrative that white South Africans are victims of racial persecution has long circulated in far-right echo chambers, sustained by groups like AfriForum and amplified by conservative US media. Yet no credible human rights body has substantiated claims of systematic violence or oppression based on race in South Africa. Image: File/X THE arrival of over 3 000 white South Africans in the United States under President Donald Trump's fast-tracked refugee resettlement programme is a racial spectacle of historic proportions. Framed by Trump as a rescue mission from 'racial discrimination' and even 'genocide' in post-apartheid South Africa, the scheme repackages whiteness as victimhood while reasserting racial hierarchies through the veneer of humanitarian concern. Cheryl Harris's seminal concept of 'whiteness as property' is especially instructive here. This programme protects not the displaced, but the entitlements embedded in whiteness — land, social status, and the right to global mobility. These arrivals, facilitated under a controversial executive order, mark the first time in US history that white South Africans have been accepted en masse as refugees. The move has drawn intense scrutiny, with South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola dismissing the claims as 'unfounded and inflammatory'. He clarified that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had no involvement and had consistently found no basis for refugee status for white South Africans. 'The resettlement of South Africans under the guise of being 'refugees' is a political project to delegitimise our democracy,' Lamola asserted. The narrative that white South Africans — particularly Afrikaner farmers — are victims of racial persecution has long circulated in far-right echo chambers, sustained by groups like AfriForum and amplified by conservative US media. Yet no credible human rights body has substantiated claims of systematic violence or oppression based on race in South Africa. In February 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14152: Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa, suspending non-essential aid. He cited South Africa's land reform policies and its support for Palestine at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as evidence of 'anti-white discrimination'. His language echoed apartheid-era rhetoric, framing land expropriation without compensation — a constitutional measure designed to redress historical injustice — as proof of racial targeting. This is not a story about humanitarian rescue. It is about the repackaging of privilege as persecution. Trump's administration, by reclassifying specific 'South African communities' for humanitarian parole, has revived the settler-native divide. As Mahmood Mamdani has noted, this manoeuvre casts descendants of apartheid's beneficiaries as 'refugees' and South Africa itself as the oppressor. Achille Mbembe's critique of global humanism is relevant here: the programme renders Black suffering invisible while privileging whiteness as a passport to refuge and legitimacy. Consequently, while Black refugees languish in camps, whiteness is deemed inherently worthy of protection, effectively enacting a form of apartheid within the asylum system itself. The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as someone fleeing a 'well-founded fear of persecution.' Neither the Convention nor US law has ever interpreted this to include the loss of economic dominance or historical privilege. Fleeing land redistribution or reduced social status does not amount to persecution, especially when these changes are legally enacted by a democratic society seeking to correct historical wrongs. The parallels to earlier racial engineering are striking. In 1932, the US-sponsored *Carnegie Poor White Study* analysed the 'problem' of poor whites in South Africa. The initiative was not rooted in concern for poverty but in preserving white supremacy. The report warned that poor whites threatened the racial order and recommended state interventions to uplift them, while black South Africans were systematically excluded from similar support. This laid the foundation for apartheid's white welfare state and established a pattern of American intervention when white South Africans faced hardship, real or perceived. Trump's resettlement scheme is the 21st-century iteration of this pattern. White South Africans are framed not as beneficiaries of a violent racial order, but as victims of transformation, worthy of rescue. South Africa's Constitutional Court recently affirmed that acquiring foreign nationality — whether through refugee resettlement or otherwise — does not automatically strip someone of South African citizenship. In a landmark ruling, the Court struck down a section of the Citizenship Act that had quietly revoked citizenship without due process, calling the move irrational and unconstitutional. However, the case of these white South Africans is unique. Their refugee claims are based on false premises and a political agenda. South Africa may therefore have grounds to argue that accepting the US offer constitutes a voluntary renunciation of citizenship. The Constitutional Court's ruling on dual citizenship might not protect them in this politically charged context. Nowhere is the hypocrisy more glaring than in the American South. In the Mississippi Delta, six Black farmworkers filed a federal lawsuit in 2021 after being replaced by white South Africans brought in under the H-2A visa programme. The plaintiffs, many descended from enslaved people who built Southern agriculture, earned just $7.25 per hour — the federal minimum wage — while their white South African replacements were paid over $11. The lawsuit alleges that these Black workers were forced to train their replacements, who were then housed in better accommodations and elevated in status simply because they were white. Between 2011 and 2020, the number of South Africans on H-2A visas increased by 441%, making them the second-largest national group in the programme. The majority are white. The message is clear: in the racial calculus of US capitalism, white foreign labour is worth more than black American lives. Mexican seasonal workers, once the backbone of US agriculture, are also increasingly excluded — both by border walls and by labour policies that privilege whiteness over need. The result is a reshuffling of the global racial order, disguised as economic necessity. Trump's South African refugee programme is less about humanitarian concern and more about reaffirming a hierarchy of global suffering, where privilege continues to mask itself as victimhood. What we are witnessing is the reinforcement of a global colour line — one where whiteness retains its claim to mobility, safety, and opportunity, while blackness and brownness are rendered threats to be contained. The implications are profound: Refugee systems that prioritise whiteness over need. Economic visas favour white foreign farmers over Black citizens. Historical privilege is purposely mistaken for victimhood. This is not humanitarianism. It is neo-colonialism in motion. As the world watches Trump engineer the next stage of global apartheid, we must ask: What kind of refugee is it when only the privileged are welcome? When does skin colour ration citizenship, safety, and opportunity? If the notion of 'refuge' is to mean anything, it must centre justice, not historical comfort. Siyayibanga le economy! * Siyabonga Hadebe is an independent commentator based in Geneva on socio-economic, political and global matters. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL.
