More Afrikaners leave for the US
Image: AFP
US president Donald Trump was aware there was no white genocide in South Africa but wanted to use the claim to get his way.
This was the view of International relations expert Rich Mashimbye who asserted that even if Trump was advised otherwise, it would not make a difference.
This comes as Mark Burns, a close ally of Trump, returned from a visit to South Africa with a message contradicting claims of genocide against white farmers in the country.
Burns, who is the founder and CEO of the NOW television network, met with white Afrikaner farmers and business owners during his trip and concluded that there was no evidence to support the claims of genocide.
It also comes as a second, small batch of white Afrikaners quietly arrived in the US on Friday as part of Trump's offer to resettle them amidst false claims of white genocide and persecution in South Africa.
While spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation Chrispin Phiri said they are not aware of the second batch of Afrikaners landing in the US, trade union Solidarity said the group, smaller than the first to arrive in the US, included children.
Last month the first group of more than 49 white South African Afrikaners landed in the US after a private plane was chartered for them.
Trump in February had issued an executive order where Washington cited the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 as one that enables the persecution of Afrikaners.
Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said the second group departed on a commercial flight on Thursday that landed in Atlanta in the US on Friday.
'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 8000 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.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had attempted to fend off false claims of white genocide in South Africa when Trump ambushed him with videos and articles to prove his narrative that white farmers were being targeted for their land. The unexpected stunt turned the usually staid diplomatic setting of the Oval Office into a stage for Trump's contention that white South Africans are being persecuted.
Reports indicate that the US embassy in South Africa is aware that 'refugees continue to arrive in the US 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.
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.
Kallie Kriel, AfriForum's CEO, said he did not know the Afrikaners who were leaving because they applied directly to the US embassy.
According to Mashimbye, for a while, the SA-US diplomatic tensions centred around the Trump-led government's accusations that the Ramaphosa government was persecuting white South Africans and confiscating land from Afrikaner farmers while remaining silent.
He said it did not matter what people said because Trump was aware there was no white genocide in South Africa but wanted to use the claim to get his way.
'As president of a country with one the largest embassies that is fully staffed in South Africa, Trump has access to all the information he requires about South Africa's transformation project and he likely knows that the issues of land reform and crime dynamics are not as has been portrayed so far.
'He knows that there is no genocide happening nor confiscation of white-owned farms in South Africa. It is likely that the diplomatic attacks directed at South Africa are aimed at discouraging the Ramaphosa government from robustly executing the transformation project,' he said.
Political analyst Sandile Swana said Burns' public statements were encouraging and showed that not everyone in Trump's camp agreed with him.
'To me they represent signs from the Trump's camp… that they have to tell a different story, which they are now doing…and a different story they are now telling is that whatever crime that is happening, is not a genocide but just crime that needs to be attended to."
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