Farmer or IT technician? Afrikaner 'refugee' questioned over title
Local businessman Errol Langton has clapped at critics who questioned his decision to go to the US as an 'Afrikaner refugee'.
This comes as many South Africans – including his stepdaughter – have questioned his claims of being a 'farmer' and an 'Afrikaner'. Many have also called him 'opportunistic' for wanting to start again in another country.
Errol and eight of his family members arrived in the US this week and are planning to settle down in Alabama.
Speaking to the New York Times about being a 'refugee', Errol Langton described himself as a 'farmer' from KwaZulu-Natal's coastal town of Hibberdene. There, he supposedly grew spinach, mustard, Swiss chard, and sweet potatoes.
Errol has chosen to settle in Birmingham, located in Alabama, the same city his brother immigrated to years before.
However, Errol has decided to take up an 'IT job' in the sector he coincidentally worked in and owned a large-scale business back in South Africa.
On social media, South Africans have labelled the 'Afrikaner refugee' as 'opportunistic'.
Social commentator Bianca van Wyk said: 'How odd! A farmer who is now working an IT job in Birmingham! Mr Langton…you ran an IT company in South Africa. You have never farmed. Why are you blatantly lying?'
TikToker user @sinnedbad jumped into the comments, posting: 'I worked with Errol as an Account Executive at an IT company in Sandton.' @biancasays3 #southafricanrefugees #southafrica #unitedstates ♬ original sound – BiancaSays3
Errol's stepdaughter, Geneve Gouws, also questioned his decision to leave South Africa.
She said in a TikTok this week: 'I'm completely shocked. What do they need protection from exactly? They're not even Afrikaners.'
The young woman went on to claim that Errol 'lied' in his application to become a 'refugee'.
She also believed that his claims of being a 'victim of crime' were a result of domestic abuse incidents with her mother, whom he has since divorced.
'What lie do you have to tell to get to America?' she added.
Speaking to the New York Times , Errol Langton stated that while it was 'terrible 'to be labeled as traitors and sellouts', he added that 'haters are going to hate'.
Since then, the 'refugee' has posted a TikTok video – in an apparent American accent – from his 'new home in the USA'.
Defending his actions, he said, 'I am of Afrikaner descent. My family made a decision a long time ago not to speak Afrikaans and switched to English.
While his LinkedIn account lists him as the owner of an IT business, Langton also claims that he was indeed a farmer.
He continued: 'I did farming. I owned a farm or at least leased a farm for more than three years, where I farmed with the leafy greens and tried to get commercial farming up and running'.
He added: 'So tell me, why don't I qualify for this programme?
'I may speak English and be two generations away from being actively Afrikaans. But I am a South African Afrikaner, and that is a fact.'
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