Afrikaner refugees refused to be governed by black people, says Heller
Image: Marco Longari / AFP
Kim Heller, author of No White Lies and a well-known social justice activist, has weighed in on the recent departure of 49 South African Afrikaner refugees to the United States, saying that the group refused to be led by a black government.
The group, citing fears of targeted violence and claims of victimisation, has accepted an offer from the US to resettle as part of the Trump administration, which has offered refuge to white South Africans seeking refuge abroad.
President Donald Trump has accused the government of seizing land from White Afrikaners and offered to resettle them as refugees in the US.
However, the government has not seized any land since the end of apartheid in 1994. South African crime statistics show that the highest number of people being murdered in the country are young Black men.
Critics argue that the move underscores a refusal to accept the realities of a democratic South Africa, where black-led government structures have replaced apartheid-era policies.
In a recent series of X posts, Heller condemned the Afrikaner refugees, asserting that their departure reflects a stubborn adherence to racial superiority and a refusal to reconcile with South Africa's new political landscape.
'Nelson Mandela extended a hand of reconciliation to white South Africans after the atrocities of apartheid,' she said. 'Yet, these individuals have failed the humanity test—they remain largely unrepentant and racist.'
Heller went further, describing the refugees' departure as a manifestation of racial privilege.
'To the Afrikaners seeking refuge in America—good riddance and shame on you,' she declared.
'Afrikaners and Zionists share a similar sense of superiority and victimhood. These are white racists who refuse to be governed by a black government or relinquish their unearned apartheid privileges.'
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