Latest news with #whiteAfrikaners
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Trump's South African spotlight
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meets Donald Trump on 21 May amid tensions over Washington's resettlement of white Afrikaners that the US president claims are the victims of "genocide." Photo: AFP Cathy is a 10th-generation white South African who moved to New Zealand 28 years ago, following the hijacking and killing of a man in her work car park. Her parents, dyed-in-the-wool South Africans, followed her 10 years later, after someone broke into their home and left knives in the ceiling. Today, from the safety of her Auckland home, she backs US President Donald Trump, who stunned the world last week with his orchestrated ambush of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office. Trump played videos that he claimed proved genocide is being committed against white people, driving farmers to flee to the US. The unexpected stunt turned the diplomatic setting into a stage for Trump's contention that white South Africans are being persecuted. "I think that Donald Trump is a very astute gentleman," says Cathy, who didn't want her last name used. "And I believe that what he has intended to do with his reaction and his approach to the situation in South Africa is to put a spotlight on it. "Media companies around the world wouldn't be talking about it unless he'd done that. So, let's give him some credit." She says the current South African government isn't standing up to the opposition, which is making threats to different racial communities. In January, President Ramaphosa also signed a Bill into law allowing the state to seize land without compensation. "A lot of the farmers and the Afrikaans community feel reasonably threatened by what is happening in the country," Cathy says. "I know of people who have had to run for their lives, leaving their farms. I know of people who live in New Zealand who have had to return home because their families have been murdered. It is real, it is true, and I don't believe it's being reported on." President Trump's meeting with President Ramaphosa in the White House was billed as a friendly conversation about trade and regional cooperation, but it quickly turned sour with the South African leader visibly blindsided by the white genocide ambush, which critics have labelled "inappropriate and undiplomatic". Robert Patman, professor of international relations at Otago University, tells The Detail the stunt was performative, targeting MAGA supporters. "I was appalled," he says. "It seems to me that America has humiliated itself - at least its president has humiliated America in the eyes of many people around the world. "This is the second time that Mr Trump has applied 'gotcha' diplomacy, where he has ambushed someone in the Oval Office. It struck me as thoroughly unprofessional. "If he had genuine concerns about white genocide, then he would have sent the documents in advance to the South African government to form the basis of a discussion... a discussion that would normally happen behind closed doors on sensitive issues. "There is no basis in the allegations that Mr Trump has made. The whole thing was performative, and it may have won him some applause amongst MAGA supporters - Make America Great Again supporters - but it certainly hasn't won any international respect for the Trump administration." He suggests that South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice was another factor in the attack. Patman also says a number of South African billionaires, including Elon Musk, have Trump's ear. Earlier this month, a group of 59 white South Africans arrived in the United States after being granted refugee status by the White House, which has fast-tracked the processing of Afrikaner refugees but paused refugee applications for other nationalities. This follows Trump freezing aid to South Africa in February over claims it was mistreating its minority white population. President Ramaphosa has vehemently denied all the claims. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
Arab News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
White House slams Episcopal Church's refusal to resettle white South Africans
WASHINGTON: The White House questioned Tuesday the humanitarian commitment of the influential Episcopal Church after it refused to comply with a federal directive to help resettle white Afrikaners granted refugee status by the Trump administration. Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform and essentially halted refugee arrivals in the United States after taking office, but made an exception for white Afrikaners despite South Africa's insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland. On Monday, around 50 white South Africans arrived for resettlement in the United States, after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a 'genocide.' That claim — oft-repeated by Trump's Pretoria-born ally, billionaire Elon Musk — has been widely dismissed as absurd, including by the South African government. On Monday, the Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans. In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly criticized the decision as raising 'serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.' She claimed white Afrikaners — who are primarily descendants of European colonizers and whose ethnic group dominated South African politics until apartheid was abolished in 1994 — had 'faced unspeakable horrors.' On Monday, the church had said it would wind up its refugee resettlement grant agreements — amounting to more than $50 million annually — with the US federal government rather than comply with Trump's orders. In a statement, the church's presiding bishop was scathing in his criticism of the administration's decision to grant the white South Africans refugee status. 'It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,' said Sean W. Rowe. Under eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial minority in South Africa. The Episcopal Church said that it could not comply with Trump's order 'in light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.' It said its programs with the US federal government would be wound up by the end of the fiscal year, but that its work on refugee resettlement would continue, including supporting recently arrived refugees from around the world.
The Herald
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald
Afrikaners who left for US do not qualify as refugees: Lamola
The group of Afrikaners who left South Africa on Sunday for the US do not qualify as refugees. This is according to international relations and co-operation (Dirco) minister Ronald Lamola. He said on Monday, during a press conference about the preparations for the G20 Leaders' summit, that those who left 'do not qualify for that [refugee] status according to us'. He said that in line with the international definition, the group did not qualify for that status. He reiterated that there was no persecution of white Afrikaners in South Africa. He said statistics in South Africa, including the police reports, do not support the assertion of persecution of white South Africans based on their race. He added that crime in the country affected everyone irrespective of race or gender, and was a societal challenge. ' There is no data at all that backs that there is a persecution of white South Africans or white Afrikaners, [or] to be more particular, [those] who are farmers. In fact , more farm dwellers are also affected by crime, and white farmers do get affected by crime, just like any other South African who gets affected by crime,' he said. A group of 49 white Afrikaners who have been granted 'refugee' status in the US left South Africa on Sunday. Lamola said all those who left have been vetted, and there has been a process which involved the South African police services. 'As I have said earlier , they can't provide any proof of any persecution because there is none. There is no any form of persecution against white South Africans, to Afrikaner South Africans. 'We are glad that a number of organisations, even from Afrikaner structures, have denounced this so-called 'persecution',' he said. He added that they have not yet applied the issue of non-refoulement (forcing them to return) at this stage, and it was an issue for the Dirco and home affairs departments to deal with. 'We did mention it in the statement, but it is South Africans who have made their own choice in terms of their rights to go to any other country,' he said. Lamola said that when they tell the US that there were no persecutions, the US says they have an executive order which they have to implement. 'According to them, there is persecution, as you hear from time to time that bad things are happening in our country. We continue to state that there are no bad things that are targeting white people with any intentions, particularly Afrikaner farmers in South Africa,' he said. TimesLIVE
The South African
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The South African
Afrikaners leaving SA for US aren't refugees
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States (US) do not fit the description of a 'refugee'. The first batch of White Afrikaners left Johannesburg on a charter flight on Sunday, 11 May, and landed in the US on Monday, 12 May. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump boldly claimed that he cut aid to SA because the government is 'doing terrible things to minority groups' and confiscating land. This was in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa signing the Expropriation Act into law. Thereafter, he signed an executive order granting the white Afrikaners asylum. Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Monday, 12 May, Ramaphosa said the people enticed to go to the US do not fit the definition of a refugee. The internationally recognised definition of refugees as set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol is someone with a 'well-founded fear of persecution' based on race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. Ramaphosa insisted that the Afrikaners do not fit the description of a refugee and had a telephonic conversation with Trump to dispel the lies he had been told by people opposed to transformation in South Africa. 'I added to him that we were well taught by Nelson Mandela and other iconic leaders like Oliver Tambo on how to continue to build a united nation out of the diverse groupings that we have in South Africa. We are the only country on the continent where the colonisers came to stay, and we have never driven them out of our country. 'So, they're staying and they're making good progress. It's a fringe grouping that does not have enough support, that is anti-transformation and anti-change, that would actually prefer South Africa to go back to apartheid type policies. I said to him [Trump] that I would never do that, I stand at the feet of Nelson Mandela, and we intend to proceed with the implementation of our Constitutional architecture,' he said. Ramaphosa also revealed that he is set to meet with Donald Trump soon regarding the issue. 'Those people who fled, they are not being persecuted, they are not being hounded, they're not being treated badly. They're leaving ostensibly because they don't want to embrace the changes that are taking place in the country in accordance with the Constitution. We think the American government got the wrong end of the stick here, but, we'll continue talking to them,' he said. Last week, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration is preparing to help the Afrikaners find 'temporary or longer-term housing' and 'basic home furnishings, essential household items, and cleaning supplies. The administration is also reportedly planning to help the Afrikaners secure groceries, weather-appropriate clothing, diapers, formula, hygiene products, and prepaid phones that support the day-to-day well-being of households. In response, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said while South Africa challenges the United States' assessments of alleged refugee status, it will not block citizens who seek to depart the country from doing so, as it also observes their right of freedom of movement and freedom of choice, specifically the right to leave the country, as contained in section 21(2) of the Constitution. However, South Africa must ensure that it is compliant with other domestic laws and prescripts. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump puts white South Africans on citizenship fast track while rejecting all other refugees: ‘As subtle as an air raid'
Since taking office, Donald Trump's administration has virtually shut down refugee admissions and blocked funding for resettlement groups, stranding thousands of people who were granted entry to the United States for humanitarian protections only to have those offers rescinded. But the president has singled out one specific group of people who will be allowed entry into the United States and appear to be on a fast track to citizenship: white South Africans. A group of 59 white South Africans admitted to the United States as 'refugees' have been 'essentially extended citizenship,' Trump said on Monday. They were greeted by State Department officials on Monday after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport on a taxpayer-funded flight following their fast-tracked refugee vetting process under the administration's radically reshaped admissions program. The president claims white South Africans are victims of 'genocide,' echoing a white supremacist conspiracy theory alleging immigration and forced assimilation threaten the existence of white people — a claim that has fueled racist hate and violence against minority groups as well as parallel conspiracy theories like the so-called 'great replacement' theory. Trump and his Republican allies have routinely amplified a bogus 'great replacement' theory that claims Democratic officials are allowing immigrants into the country to manipulate elections. The idea is behind Trump's anti-immigration agenda as well his executive orders and legislation in Congress taking aim at voter registration and election administration. 'When it comes to race and immigration issues, the Trump administration is about as subtle as an air raid,' America's Voice executive director Vanessa Cárdenas said in a statement to The Independent. 'While they single out white Afrikaners for special treatment and resettlement, they falsely slander Black and brown refugees and immigrants as dangerous threats and 'invaders' — including those who have been vetted with background checks — despite all of the statistical evidence to the contrary,' she added. 'It's inherently hypocritical and ugly, but unfortunately par for the course for this administration.' The president has previously compared efforts from the South African government to combat racial inequalities from apartheid to anti-white discrimination, and South African officials have accused the administration of using claims from white Afrikaners to undermine the country's genocide case against Israel now before the International Court of Justice. White Afrikaners, descendants of Europeans who arrived in the country centuries ago, claim to have been denied jobs and become targets of violence for their race — claims that exploded with new legislation regulating property expropriation. Viral misinformation claimed dozens of daily murders of white farmers. But it's been estimated that roughly 50 farmers total, from all racial groups, were killed annually in a country that recorded more than 19,000 murders between January and September 2024. Still, Trump announced in February he was cutting off funding to South Africa — most of which goes to efforts to combat HIV/AIDS — because the government was 'confiscating land' and 'treating certain classes of people very badly.' Trump's adviser Elon Musk — born to a wealthy family in Pretoria — called South Africa's property law 'openly racist' and accused a Black nationalist political party of 'actively promoting white genocide.' White farmers own roughly 70 percent of commercial farmland in the country despite white South Africans making up about 7 percent of the population. Fewer than 150 attacks involving farmers occurred during the entirety of 2023, according to the Afrikaaner political group AfriForum. Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration froze refugee admissions, blocking people fleeing famine and war from countries like Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Within just two days of Trump's inauguration, resettlement groups were blindsided by the administration's order to suspend all refugee entries and cancel all flights for incoming refugees — even for thousands of people who were already cleared for entry with U.S. sponsorships and support from families and aid groups. In February, the administration also abruptly announced plans to terminate contracts with refugee resettlement and assistance groups 24 hours after a federal judge ordered the government to restore funding to aid organizations. Brief messages from the State Department told refugee groups that their contracts were 'terminated for the convenience of the U.S. Government pursuant to a directive' from Secretary of State Marco Rubio for 'alignment with agency priorities and the national interest.' Other messages told aid groups that funding is 'immediately terminated' because it 'no longer effectuates agency priorities,' according to court filings and statements to The Independent. Earlier this month, a federal court ordered the administration to put forward a plan for resettling roughly 12,000 refugees who had flights booked for the United States when Trump's refugee ban was announced. The lead plaintiff in that case, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was approved for resettlement and scheduled to travel to the United States on January 22 with his wife and baby son. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for permission to strip temporary protected legal status for tens of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. The same day Trump announced the arrival of white South African refugees, the administration stripped temporary protected status for Afghans already in the United States, formally lifting a shield that protects them from being deported. The administration argues that conditions in the Taliban-run country no longer merit protections for their stay in the United States. Asked on Monday why white South Africans are the exception, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told reporters that criteria for refugee admissions include whether they can be 'assimilated easily into our country.' 'The president has recognized the dire situation for this particular group of people,' he said. Asked why he carved out refugee admissions for a group of white South Africans while suspending resettlement for all other vulnerable groups, Trump told reporters: 'Because they're being killed, and we don't want to see people killed.' 'It's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about,' he told reporters on Monday. 'Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. But whether they're white or Black makes no difference to me. But white farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa,' according to Trump. 'I don't care who they are. I don't care who they are. I don't care about their race, their color, I don't care about their height, their weight.' Refugees typically cover the cost of their own travel to the United States through interest-free loans that must be paid back. But the State Department-chartered flight that brought a group of South Africans to the United States comes at taxpayers' expense. 'Thousands of refugees have been thrust into limbo after clearing an extensive vetting process, including Afghan allies, religious minorities, and other families facing extreme persecution,' Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of national refugee settlement nonprofit group Global Refugee, said in a statement to The Independent. 'As we see the system restart, it's imperative that the U.S. government act to welcome all refugees who meet longstanding legal standards, regardless of their nationality,' she said.
