What Is ‘White Genocide' In South Africa As Claimed By Donald Trump & Elon Musk? Explained

News18

22-05-2025

Last Updated:
Reports suggest that the South African government is expropriating land from white farmers through violent land seizures in order to distribute it to Black South Africans
US President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa by playing a video that he falsely claimed proved genocide was being committed against White people – 'the opposite of Apartheid".
Trump's brusque stunt on Wednesday was the most tense Oval Office encounter since his unprecedented public meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March.
What Is White Genocide Conspiracy Theory?
Let us understand how the claims of white genocide have been circulated over the years, with Trump being the most recent leader propagating the theory.
1. The theory of genocide of white farmers in South Africa has been propagated by some fringe groups of white South Africans since the end of apartheid in 1994. It has been circulating in global far-right chat rooms for at least a decade, with the vocal support of Trump's ally, South African-born Elon Musk. They accuse the Black-majority led government of being complicit in the farm murders, either by encouraging them or at least turning a blind eye. The government strongly denies this.
2. Trump has long maintained that Afrikaners, a minority descended from mainly Dutch colonists who ruled South Africa during its decades of racial apartheid, are being persecuted. He played a video clip that showed a long line of white crosses on the side of a highway, which Trump said were 'burial sites" for white farmers. The clip was made in September 2020 during a protest against farm murders. The crosses did not mark actual graves. An organizer told South Africa's public broadcaster, SABC, at the time that the wooden crosses represented farmers who had been killed over the years, as mentioned in a Reuters report.
3. There are reports that the South African government is expropriating land from white farmers without compensation, including through violent land seizures, in order to distribute it to Black South Africans. The government has a policy of attempting to redress inequalities in land ownership that are a legacy of apartheid and colonialism. But no land has been expropriated, and the government has instead tried to encourage white farmers to sell their land willingly. A Reuters report says that some three-quarters of privately-owned farmland is still in the hands of whites, who comprise 8% of the population, while 4% is owned by Blacks who make up 80% of the population.
4. In February, a South African judge dismissed the idea of a genocide as 'clearly imagined" and 'not real", when ruling in an inheritance case involving a wealthy benefactor's donation to white supremacist group Boerelegioen.
5. South Africa does not release crime figures based on race but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were murdered in the country between October and December 2024.
Who Are Afrikaners?
Modern Afrikaners are descendants of Western Europe who settled on the southern top of Africa during the middle of the 17th Century.
A mixture of Dutch (34.8%), German (33.7%) and French (13.2%) settlers, they formed a 'unique cultural group" which identified itself 'completely with African soil", according to South African History Online.
They speak Afrikaans, which is quite similar to Dutch. But as they settled down in Africa, Afrikaners as well as White people forced Blacks to leave their land.
Afrikaans, also known as Boers, mainly belong to the farming community.
In 1948, South Africa's Afrikaner-led government began practising apartheid, and took racial segregation to a more extreme level. Inter-race marriages were banned, skilled and semi-skilled jobs were restricted to White people and Blacks were forced to live in their homelands.
They were also denied education, with Afrikaner leader Hendrik Verwoerd infamously remarking in the 1950s that 'blacks should never be shown the greener pastures of education. They should know their station in life is to be hewers of wood and drawers of water."
Their dominance ended in 1994 when Blacks were allowed to vote and Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress came to power.
The 2.5 million Afrikaners form roughly 4% of the South Africa's total 60 million population.
How Are Trump And Musk Supporting The Claim?
The Trump Oval Office meeting where he ambushed his counterpart Ramaphosa was also attended by Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa.
Trump also said he was not sure how he could attend the G20 summit of world leaders, due to be held in South Africa later this year, in such an environment.
The US president has given members of Afrikaner community refugee status over genocide allegations despite his administration halting arrivals of asylum seekers as he cracks down on immigration. More than 70,000 Afrikaners have expressed interest in moving to the US, with about 50 of them arriving in the country to take up Trump's offer of 'refuge".
Meanwhile, South Africa will reportedly offer Musk a deal to operate his Starlink satellite internet network in the country. The Tesla and SpaceX boss has accused Pretoria of 'openly racist" laws, a reference to post-apartheid Black empowerment policies seen as a hurdle to the licensing of Starlink.