Second group of white Afrikaners arrive in the US to take up Trump's offer of resettlement
Image: Jim WATSON / AFP
A small batch of white Afrikaners quietly arrived in the US on Friday, as part of President Donald Trump's offer to resettle them amidst false claims of white genocide and persecution in South Africa.
They are part of 8,000 who will be resettled within the next few months, according to Jaco Kleynhans, head of Public Relations for trade union Solidarity.
Last month the first group of more than 49 white South African Afrikaners landed in the United States after a private plane was chartered for them.
This after Trump in February issued an executive order where Washington cited the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 as one that enables the persecution of Afrikaners.
Kleynhans said the second group departed on a commercial flight on Thursday that landed in Atlanta in the US on Friday.
'It is a smaller group, including children. Several more groups will fly to the USA over the next few weeks. The US Embassy in Pretoria, in collaboration with the State Department in Washington DC, is currently processing 8,000 applications, and we expect many more Afrikaner refugees to travel to the USA over the next few months.
"They are settling in states across the USA, but particularly southern states such as Texas, North and South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska,' Kleynhans said.
Reports indicate that the US embassy in South Africa is aware that 'refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement programme's ongoing operations'.
Solidarity said it has helped some people understand the application process better and referred them to the right people at the US embassy. They have also assisted the US government in determining the criteria for Afrikaner refugee status.
'Our primary focus is not refugee status for Afrikaners, but rather to find ways to ensure a free, safe, and prosperous future for Afrikaners in South Africa. We remain 100% convinced that South Africa can and must create a home for all its people,' Kleynhans said.
He added that at least 20% of Afrikaners have already left the country 'because if they stayed, they would have been unemployed'.
Kleynhans said he was campaigning in at least ten countries to increase international pressure on the SA government in the run-up to the G20 summit.
On criticism that this refugee path is politically motivated, Kleynhans said: 'The American refugee programs are paid for by American taxpayers and it is outrageous that international organisations and foreign groups think they can dictate to the Trump administration who should be eligible for refugee status. If Americans disagree with Trump on this, they can elect a different president in three years."
Kallie Kriel, AfriForum's CEO, said he did not know the Afrikaners who were leaving because they applied directly to the US embassy.
'Our view is not to condemn people (who are) leaving, but rather to condemn the circumstances in the country that have led to this, such as hateful chants, like 'Kill the Boer'," he said.
Kriel added that matters were compounded by the government, including the president and courts, which failed to condemn the chant.
He acknowledged that everyone in the country has challenges, but said Afrikaners felt threatened by the open call for such violence with the 'Kill the Boer' chant.
'No community should be targeted through calls for violence. Also taking away the future of young people who now have to go into the labour market, but then are discriminated against based on their skin colour.
'We want to address that, and that is why we are vocal, because we want to make sure that South Africa truly belongs to all who live in it,' Kriel said.
Dr Noluthando Phungula, an international relations expert, said it would appear that Washington still holds on to the notion of a white genocide, and it is unlikely that there will be a large exodus, as the privileged white Afrikaner population will not want to leave their life of privilege and comfort in South Africa.
Professor Siphamandla Zondi, a political analyst from the University of Johannesburg, said the US's welcoming of the second batch of white Afrikaners should not surprise anyone, especially in the absence of a change of US policy.
'We should expect more and more poor Afrikaners to take advantage of this to get a free pass to the US in search of basic jobs, which ordinarily would prove difficult to get visas for,' Zondi said.
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