Afrikaner groups in South Africa reject Trump’s resettlement offer
Afrikaner organizations in South Africa have rejected US President Donald Trump’s offer of resettlement in the United States following his claims of land confiscation targeting Afrikaners.
Groups such as Solidarity and AfriForum held a media briefing on Saturday in Pretoria to respond to Trump’s executive order issued on Friday. The order accused South Africa of “seizing ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property” and offered Afrikaners the opportunity to seek refugee status in the US.
Afrikaner leaders respond
Speaking in a telephone interview on Sunday, Kallie Kriel, chief executive officer of the Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, stated that representatives of the Afrikaner community would travel to the US later this month to discuss the matter with Trump’s administration.
When asked about the alleged “land confiscation,” Kriel acknowledged that land grabs had occurred but insisted they were not government-led.
“Land grabs are carried out by politically motivated people. The reason the government should be blamed is that they don’t take this seriously or stop it,” Kriel said.
South Africa’s government condemns Trump’s order
On Saturday, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) expressed strong opposition to Trump’s executive order, which also included cutting US financial assistance to South Africa.
The US allocated nearly $440 million in aid to South Africa in 2023, according to American media reports.
The diplomatic tension escalated earlier in the week when Trump threatened to withdraw US funding over South Africa’s recently signed Expropriation Act. The law allows public institutions to expropriate land in the public interest, a move that has faced criticism from Trump’s administration.
DIRCO, in an official statement, dismissed the order as being based on misinformation.
“It is of great concern that the foundational premise of this order lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognize South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid,” the statement read.
“We are concerned by what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation. It is disappointing to observe that such narratives seem to have found favor among decision-makers in the United States of America,” it added.
DIRCO also criticized what it called an “ironic” move by the US government to offer refuge to “the most economically privileged” Afrikaners while simultaneously deporting asylum-seekers from other countries.
Ramaphosa dismisses land seizure claims
In the executive order, Trump’s administration stated that it could not support the South African government’s alleged human rights violations and directed US agencies to halt aid while offering refugee status to Afrikaner farmers.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dismissed claims that the Expropriation Act was designed to seize land, emphasizing that his government was open to engaging with the US on land reform policies and other bilateral matters.
