President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed the United States’ accusations against South Africa as “baseless and false,” warning that a deliberate campaign of disinformation is threatening the country’s national interests.

Diplomatic tensions between Pretoria and Washington escalated sharply following the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

In his address to the nation on Sunday night, Ramaphosa directly rebutted US President Donald Trump’s claims that South Africa is committing “genocide against Afrikaners” and seizing land from white citizens, calling the allegations “blatant misinformation.”

“It is regrettable that the United States… chose not to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit,” Ramaphosa said. 

“It is even more unfortunate that the reasons the US gave for its non-participation were based on baseless and false allegations that South Africa is perpetrating genocide against Afrikaners and the confiscation of land from white people.”

He made it clear that South Africa is a constitutional democracy with an independent judiciary and a Bill of Rights that guarantees equality under the law. 

“South African problems must be solved by South Africans themselves,” Ramaphosa said. 

“We are a country that has a tradition of dialogue, that has an enduring ability to come together to confront the challenges we face.”

The remarks follow Trump’s announcement that South Africa would “not be invited” to the 2026 G20 summit in Miami, despite Pretoria being a founding member of the group. 

“We must make it clear that South Africa is one of the founding members of the G20 and South Africa is therefore a member of the G20 in its own name and right,” Ramaphosa said.

“We will continue to participate as a full, active and constructive member of the G20.” 

Trump also criticised the ceremonial handover of the G20 presidency, which took place at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation after the US did not send a senior official to Johannesburg.

Ramaphosa said these actions were part of a “sustained campaign of disinformation” affecting South Africa’s jobs, economy, and global relations. 

He urged those spreading misinformation to bring their concerns to the National Dialogue, stressing that no one outside the country has the right to redefine South Africa or sow division.

“We offer the people of the United States nothing but goodwill and friendship,” Ramaphosa said, recalling the historic solidarity of the American people during South Africa’s struggle for democracy and freedom. 

“We value the United States government and its people as a partner. We have common interests, common values and a shared wish to advance the prosperity and well-being of the people of both our countries.”

The dispute comes despite widespread praise for South Africa’s G20 Presidency. Leaders including India’s Narendra Modi, the UK’s Keir Starmer, and France’s Emmanuel Macron hailed the Johannesburg summit, the first held on African soil, as highly successful. 

Ramaphosa highlighted that all G20 members attended year-long meetings except the US, and that the summit achieved agreements on debt relief, climate funding, beneficiation of critical minerals, and the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality.

He closed by calling for national unity and resilience in the face of external pressure.

“We know who we are. We are South Africans. We live together, work together, learn together, laugh together, play together, pray together, mourn together, celebrate together and face our challenges together. In the best and worst of times, we have stood together,” he said.

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South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has rebuked recent comments made by U.S President Donald Trump on Truth Social, in which he accused the country of persecuting Afrikaners, while boycotting the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg.

Trump claimed Afrikaners – whom he described as “white descendants of European settlers” are being killed and slaughtered, and that their farms are being illegally confiscated.

He declared that no U.S. government official will attend as long as the perceived human rights abuse continued while referring to South African’s hosting the G20 as a disgrace.

DIRCO responded swiftly, stating that Trump’s characterization of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is “ahistorical” and that his claims of persecution are “not substantiated by fact.”

The department emphasized that South Africa’s position on this matter remains consistent with previous statements, referencing four official responses to similar allegations made in recent years:

Statement on the US special refugee programme

South African government sets record straight on farm crime

South Africa rejects inaccurate and deeply flawed account of human rights practices

Government of South Africa notes the USA executive order

The South African government reiterated its commitment to democratic values and inclusive development, stating: “Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, our nation is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity, where shared prosperity bridges deep inequalities.”

Trump’s boycott announcement comes just weeks before the G20 Leaders’ Summit, which South Africa is set to host for the first time.

The move has sparked diplomatic concern, especially given Trump’s previous remarks at the America Business Forum in Miami, where he referenced South Africa in the context of “communist tyranny.”

Despite the controversy, South Africa remains focused on its global leadership role and preparations for the summit. DIRCO spokesperson Chrispin Phiri confirmed that the country looks forward to hosting a successful G20 gathering, emphasizing that misinformation should not derail international cooperation.

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Trump is considering cutting the number of refugee places to as few as 7,500 from a target of 125,000 refugee admissions last year under the Biden administration, according to officials, with the places mostly going to members of the Afrikaner white minority from South Africa.

The figures for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 have not been finalized, according to two people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it with the media.

The U.S. says Afrikaners are being discriminated against by their Black-led government, are the victims of race-based violence, and are having their land seized.

The South African government strongly denies those claims, calling them “completely false” and the result of misinformation.

Some white South Africans have already arrived in the US
The Trump administration announced a new scheme earlier this year to fast-track the relocation of Afrikaner farmers to the U.S. while suspending the refugee program from other parts of the world.

Around 70 white South Africans were relocated to the U.S. in two groups in May and June in what U.S. officials described as the start of the new program. They said more would be relocated.

The issue of white South Africans was at the center of a tense meeting between Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House in May, when Trump confronted his counterpart in the Oval Office with baseless claims of widespread violence against white farmers.

Afrikaners are descendants of colonial settlers

Afrikaners are the descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first arrived in South Africa in the 17th century. They are just one of South Africa’s white minorities, which also include South Africans of British descent.

Afrikaners speak Afrikaans, a language derived from Dutch that is widely spoken and recognized as one of South Africa’s 11 official languages.

Afrikaners were at the heart of the apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa that lasted from 1948 until 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected as the country’s first Black president in the first democratic, all-race elections. Their leading role in apartheid has led to some lingering racial tensions, but Afrikaners have generally embraced their country’s new multiracial democracy just like most other South Africans.

There are now around 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80% Black. They are represented in every facet of South African life and are successful business leaders, some of the country’s best-known sportsmen and women, and also serve in government.

Claims of persecution
Conservative commentators in the U.S. have in recent years amplified complaints by some Afrikaner lobby groups in South Africa that they are being persecuted by their Black-led government. South African-born billionaire Elon Musk has backed those claims and accused the South African government of being racist against whites.

The lobby groups cited South Africa’s long-standing affirmative action laws which seek to advance opportunities for Black South Africans who were oppressed under apartheid. They have also claimed that a small number of violent attacks on white farmers are racially motivated. They say a new law passed by the government allowing it to expropriate land without compensation is further evidence that it wants to remove whites from their land.

The South African government denied the claims, saying farm attacks account for a tiny percentage of South Africa’s overall high violent crime rates and all South Africans are impacted by crime. It said the new expropriation law is aimed at redistributing land that is not being put to use to poor Black South Africans.

Trump’s executive order
Trump has taken up the claims of persecution and issued an executive order in February accusing the South African government of “egregious actions” and rights violations against the Afrikaner minority.

The executive order instructed U.S. agencies, including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, to prioritize humanitarian relief and the relocation of Afrikaners to the U.S. under the United States Refugee Admissions Program.

It’s not clear how many South Africans have applied for refugee status, and the Afrikaner lobby groups critical of the South African government have called for Afrikaners to stay in their country. The South African government has refused to recognize them as refugees, saying they aren’t being persecuted but it also won’t stop them leaving.

The U.S. has extended the refugee program to other racial minorities in South Africa, meaning South Africans of Indian or mixed-race heritage could also apply if they can show they have been discriminated against by affirmative action laws or other policies. There are significant minorities of those groups in South Africa.

The U.S. Embassy in South Africa said last month that there was a “sizable volume of submissions” to work through, without saying exactly how many.

-AP

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The International Relations and Cooperation Department has moved to “set the record straight” following the release of the 2024 US Human Rights Report, which raised alarm about the safety of rural and farming communities in South Africa.

It claimed that racial minorities, particularly Afrikaners, were facing systematic abuse.

In an updated response on Wednesday, the department leaned on official South African Police Service (SAPS) data covering rural safety during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year (1 January – 31 March 2025).

Six murders were reported. The victims included three farm employees, one farm dweller and two farmers.

“These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas. While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community,” department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said in a statement.

“These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas. While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community.”

The US State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, released earlier this month, flagged what it called “significant human rights issues” in South Africa.

These included unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and alleged failures to protect racial minorities.

It singled out farming communities, claiming that the government had not taken credible steps to investigate or prosecute inflammatory racial rhetoric and violence directed at Afrikaners and other minorities.

The report also pointed to debates around land expropriation without compensation, warning that such policies could exacerbate abuses against minorities.

Phiri emphasised that the government continued to roll out a “comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach” to rural safety, anchored in the National Rural Safety Strategy.

By the end of March 2025, 893 of the 900 identified rural police stations, representing 99%, had fully implemented the strategy.

The initiative prioritises police visibility, intelligence gathering and active engagement with local communities.

Key stakeholders in the programme include traditional leaders, commercial farming associations such as the African Farmers Association of SA, the National African Farmers’ Union, Agri-SA and the Transvaal Agricultural Union, as well as labour organisations like the Food and Allied Workers Union and advocacy groups representing farm workers’ rights.

Civil society organisations, including AfriForum, the SA Agricultural Research Institute and the campaign Stop Attacks and Farm Murders, are also part of the collaborative framework.

In addition to community involvement, government programmes are drawing on private sector capacity.

The Eyes and Ears initiative, coordinated with Business Against Crime South Africa, allows police to benefit from the logistical networks and surveillance technology of the private security industry.

The department stressed that South Africa remained committed to tackling crime transparently and cooperatively, rejecting what it viewed as external misrepresentations of its domestic challenges.

It added that its central focus remained on the safety and security of all South Africans, irrespective of race, and that it would continue to resist any attempt to portray crime trends as evidence of racial persecution.

By challenging the report, the department seeks not only to correct international perceptions but also to reinforce South Africa’s stance that its challenges with violent crime must not be conflated with racial hostility or human rights abuses.

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The release of the United States’ Human Rights Report has triggered contrasting political reactions in South Africa, exposing deep divisions over the country’s human rights record, foreign policy stance and relations with Washington.

The findings have been welcomed by some opposition parties, condemned outrightly by others, and formally rejected by the South African government.

It comes on the back of escalating tensions between the two countries. The government has said that the global report by US State Department is an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of the country’s constitutional democracy.  

Democratic Alliance spokesperson on international relations Ryan Smith stressed the urgency of repairing the strained relationship.

“The fact that such discord between the United States of America and South Africa is playing out so publicly further underpins the need for the urgent appointment of a competent ambassador in Washington D.C. to begin the process of repairing diplomatic channels and rebuilding the relationship,” Smith told Inside Politics on Wednesday.

“It is well documented that South Africa faces severe challenges relating to crime, safety, and security, but the data has repeatedly proven that crime does not disproportionately affect one grouping in our society.

“We agree that more must be done to tackle this issue as one of the major threats to South African society and economic growth.”

In a blistering statement, Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Sinawo Thambo rejected the report as “imperialist propaganda” aimed at punishing South Africa for asserting its sovereignty and aligning with causes such as Palestinian solidarity.

Thambo accused Washington of selectively amplifying incidents, including police killings of suspects, to depict South Africa as “unfit to govern itself”.

He criticised the report’s reference to revolutionary songs at EFF rallies and its warnings about land expropriation, framing these as attacks on the Black majority’s struggle for land justice.

“This is part of a longstanding imperialist playbook,” Thambo said, likening it to US interventions in Iraq and Libya.

He charged that South Africa was being targeted for standing up to “apartheid Israel” at the International Court of Justice and for cultivating ties with nations such as Russia and China.

By contrast, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) hailed the report as a vital acknowledgment of “worsening” conditions for Afrikaners and other minorities.

Party leader Corné Mulder said it underscored Washington’s unwillingness to “turn a blind eye” to South Africa’s situation and confirmed four conditions allegedly presented by US officials to Afrikaner leaders during a recent visit.

These included declaring farm attacks a priority crime, unequivocally condemning the song Kill the Boer, ensuring land expropriation only occurred with fair market-related compensation, and exempting American companies from Black Economic Empowerment requirements.

Mulder said the ANC’s refusal to adjust policy “further isolates South Africa” and pledged that the FF+ would continue to raise human rights concerns internationally.

Meanwhile, labour union Solidarity said the document was an example of just how far the government’s policy differences, increasing geopolitical tensions and a noticeable lack of constructive dialogue has impacted the country.

Solidarity confirmed that the union was planning another visit the US capital next month, in an attempt to fix relations between the two countries.

Spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said the union would push for abolishing race-based laws, improving bilateral relations and securing a fair deal on trade.

“The government’s continued unwillingness to engage in self-examination exacerbates poverty, erodes race relations and undermines international relations as well as support for the country,” Kleynhans said.

This follows the International Relations and Cooperation department strongly rejecting the report earlier in the day, describing it as “inaccurate” and based on “a-contextual and discredited accounts”.

It criticised the US for prematurely framing certain cases such as the deaths of farm workers under active judicial consideration as extrajudicial killings.

It also noted that incidents of police use of force were being investigated under South Africa’s constitutional oversight mechanisms.

The department said it was “ironic” for a country that withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council to issue such assessments, especially given America’s own record on migrant detention, racial inequality and due process violations.

The department highlighted a recent UN Human Rights Office assessment that supported the Expropriation Act as a necessary step towards redressing racially imbalanced land ownership.

The dispute comes amid already tense bilateral relations between Pretoria and Washington, complicated by disagreements over South Africa’s foreign policy alignment, especially its ties to Russia, China and Palestine.

The report asserts that South Africa’s human rights situation “significantly worsened” in the past year, citing “credible reports” of arbitrary killings, unlawful detentions and repression of racial minorities.

It specifically criticises President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of the Expropriation Act as a “substantially worrying step” that threatens the land rights of Afrikaners and other minorities.

It highlights unresolved cases of farm attacks, inflammatory rhetoric against racial minorities and alleged intimidation of journalists.

While the DA urges diplomatic repair and the FF+ calls for meeting US demands, the EFF and the government see the report as part of a broader pattern of Western interference.

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A global human rights report released by the US State Department has been rejected by the South African government, which says it is an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of the country’s constitutional democracy.

President Donald Trump’s administration has softened criticism of some countries that have been strong partners of the Republican president, such as El Salvador and Israel.

Instead, the 2024 Human Rights Report sounds the alarm about the erosion of freedom of speech in Europe and increased criticism of countries including Brazil and South Africa, which Washington has clashed with over various issues.

According to an executive summary of the report on South Africa, the human rights situation in the country “significantly worsened” with the signing of Expropriation Bill on land into law.

It said this was a “substantially worrying” step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities in the country.

Significant human rights issues also included “credible reports” of arbitrary or unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests or detentions, and the repression of racial minorities.

“The government did not take credible steps to investigate, prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, including inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities, or violence against racial minorities,” the summary reads.

The International Relations and Cooperation Department said in a statement that the document’s reliance on a-contextual information and discredited accounts was highly concerning.

“It cites an incident involving the deaths of farm workers and, despite the matter being actively adjudicated by our independent judiciary, misleadingly (it) presents it as an extrajudicial killing. This is not only premature, but a fundamental distortion of the facts, as the individuals are formally arraigned before a court of law.

“Similarly, incidents of police using force are mentioned without acknowledging the robust processes in place where institutions designed to protect our democracy are actively investigating whether due process was followed and if such force was warranted,” the department said.

It said that South Africa operated under a transparent system where information was freely available from law enforcement agencies and Chapter 9 institutions, which were constitutionally mandated to protect and advance human rights.

It was “ironic” that a report from a nation that withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council and, therefore, no longer considered itself accountable in a multilateral peer review system, would seek to produce one sided fact free reports without any due process or engagement, the department said.

“This is particularly striking given the significant and documented concerns about human rights within the United States, including the treatment of refugees and breaches in due process by its own agencies such as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”

The department noted a recent assessment from the UN Human Rights Office, which said the Expropriation Act was a critical step in addressing the country’s racially imbalanced land ownership.

It said that this recognition underscored the integrity of the country’s legislative processes that were aimed at rectifying historical injustices in a constitutional and human rights-based manner.

The government is compiling a set of documents that will be released to the public later in the week to provide a “complete and accurate picture”.

In the meantime, the department has shared news articles that it said corrected distortions in the report and set the record straight on South Africa’s commitment to human rights.

Also, it said the country remained open to addressing the distortions through diplomatic channels.

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Just a week had remained before scientists in South Africa were to begin clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, and hopes were high for another step toward limiting one of history’s deadliest pandemics. Then the email arrived.

Stop all work, it said. The United States under the Trump administration was withdrawing all its funding.

The news devastated the researchers, who live and work in a region where more people live with HIV than anywhere else in the world. Their research project, called BRILLIANT, was meant to be the latest to draw on the region’s genetic diversity and deep expertise in the hope of benefiting people everywhere.

But the $46 million from the U.S. for the project was disappearing, part of the dismantling of foreign aid by the world’s biggest donor earlier this year as President Donald Trump announced a focus on priorities at home.

South Africa hit hard by aid cuts

South Africa has been hit especially hard because of Trump’s baseless claims about the targeting of the country’s white Afrikaner minority. The country had been receiving about $400 million a year via USAID and the HIV-focused PEPFAR.

Now that’s gone.

Glenda Grey, who heads the Brilliant program, said the African continent has been vital to the development of HIV medication, and the U.S. cuts threaten its capability to do such work in the future.

Significant advances have included clinical trials for lenacapavir, the world’s only twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV, recently approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. One study to show its efficacy involved young South Africans.

“We do the trials better, faster and cheaper than anywhere else in the world, and so without South Africa as part of these programs, the world, in my opinion, is much poorer,” Gray said.

She noted that during the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa played a crucial role by testing the Johnson & Johnson and Novavax vaccines, and South African scientists’ genomic surveillance led to the identification of an important variant.

Labs empty and thousands are laid off

A team of researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand has been part of the unit developing the HIV vaccines for the trials.

Inside the Wits laboratory, technician Nozipho Mlotshwa was among the young people in white gowns working on samples, but she may soon be out of a job.

Her position is grant-funded. She uses her salary to support her family and fund her studies in a country where youth unemployment hovers around 46%.

“It’s very sad and devastating, honestly,” she said of the U.S. cuts and overall uncertainty. “We’ll also miss out collaborating with other scientists across the continent.”

Professor Abdullah Ely leads the team of researchers. He said the work had promising results indicating that the vaccines were producing an immune response.

But now that momentum, he said, has “all kind of had to come to a halt.”

The BRILLIANT program is scrambling to find money to save the project. The purchase of key equipment has stopped. South Africa’s health department says about 100 researchers for that program and others related to HIV have been laid off. Funding for postdoctoral students involved in experiments for the projects is at risk.

South Africa’s government has estimated that universities and science councils could lose about $107 million in U.S. research funding over the next five years due to the aid cuts, which affect not only work on HIV but also tuberculosis — another disease with a high number of cases in the country.

During a visit to South Africa in June, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima was well aware of the stakes, and the lives at risk, as research and health care struggle in South Africa and across Africa at large.

Other countries that were highly dependent on U.S. funding including Zambia, Nigeria, Burundi and Ivory Coast are already increasing their own resources, she said.

“But let’s be clear, what they are putting down will not be funding in the same way that the American resources were funding,” Byanyima said.

AP

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The Presidency has confirmed that a second group of white Afrikaners left the country for the United States as part of the US President Donald Trump’s programme to resettle white South Africans in that country under an executive order.

Whie addressing reporters President Cyril Ramaphosa’s programme, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya was unkeen to give details.

“We are aware that there was a commercial flight that left with some people, but with much smaller number than the previous group. That information we have obviously as government we would have that information,” he said on Thursday.

“But we are still a little bit scornful of that programme because it is not part of any reality and we hope that some logic would apply around it. If there is a recruitment of people of a particular race with certain skills then it must be called as that, but it mustn’t be disguised as other things.”

Magwenya disputed any refugee status of any South African whether within or any other country. He revealed that Ramaphosa would be attending the G7 meeting in Canada between June 14 to 17 2025 where Trump would also be in attendance.

He said teams from both sides were hard at work trying to arrange a meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump on the sidelines of the gathering, but pointed out that given what he termed a successful meeting between the two leaders at the White House recently, there would be no added pressure to secure such a meeting.

Magwenya told reporters that government was not involved in the resettlement, which was continuing despite widespread denouncement of white genocide and a meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa.

He said the Oval Office had opened doors for further talks between the two countries to further explore trade relations.

Magwenya said despite the ambush witnessed on television when Trump questioned Ramaphosa about the so-called white genocide, what happened behind closed doors was much more encouraging, and Ramaphosa was enthused and satisfied with the opportunity he had with Trump.

“The president feels that we are at a much better position post that visit than we were prior to the visit and certainly it has opened the door for more engagements between our respective trade teams,” he said.

Magwenya said the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition had put together a proposal that has been tabled with their US counterparts and were waiting for a response to the package.

He added that meetings were planned later in the month to further deliberate on the proposals, where there would be formal and substantive engagements on what he described as a new trade relationship framework with the US. They were mindful of the 90-day pause for tariff increases.

“Part of the issues that will be discussed will be issues of tariffs alongside what we see as an excellent opportunity to expand the basket of trading goods between ourselves and the US,” he said.

A group of 49 Afrikaners left the country to resettle in the US last month.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump are expected to meet next week, amid growing tensions over Trump’s claims of violence against white farmers in the country and his administration welcoming Afrikaners as refugees.

“Because they’re being killed, and we don’t want to see people be killed,” Trump said during a press conference when asked why his administration is offering expedited refugee status to Afrikaners while continuing to restrict admissions from war-torn countries like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“It’s a terrible thing that’s taking place. And farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. But whether they’re white or black makes no difference to me… their land is being confiscated in South Africa,” Trump said, labeling the situation a “genocide”.

He also accused the media of ignoring the plight of white South African farmers, adding, “If it were the other way around, they’d talk about it. That would be the only story they’d talk about.”

Ramaphosa has pushed back strongly against this narrative, saying he had defended South Africa’s anti-apartheid policies during a call with Trump.

“He asked, he said, what’s happening down there? And I said, president, what you’ve been told by those people who are opposed to transformation back home in South Africa is not true,” Ramaphosa said.

“We were well taught by Nelson Mandela and other iconic leaders… on how to continue to build a united nation out of the diverse groupings that we have in South Africa.”

Ramaphosa described the refugee claims as being driven by a “fringe grouping that does not have a lot of support, that is anti-transformation and anti-change”, saying that some of these elements would prefer a return to apartheid-era policies. 

“I would never do that. I learned at the feet of Nelson Mandela,” he added. “I said, I’d like to come and meet him so that we can discuss this matter further.”

In February, Trump signed an executive order halting all US aid to South Africa, citing alleged human rights violations against the white Afrikaner minority. The order accused South Africa’s Black-led government of racial discrimination through affirmative action policies and the new Expropriation Act, which Trump claimed targeted Afrikaners’ land without compensation. 

The order also directed the development of a plan to resettle white Afrikaners as refugees in the United States, marking a significant departure from Trump’s previous suspension of the broader refugee programme. 

The administration justified this move by alleging that Afrikaners face “race-based persecution”, a claim that has been widely criticized and lacks substantiated evidence. 

South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, addressed the issue during a briefing on Monday. 

He criticised the US order granting refugee status to Afrikaners, stating that it “lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognise South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid”. 

He emphasised that the individuals departing for the US did not legally qualify as refugees, arguing, “They can’t provide any proof of any persecution, because there is none.”

Lamola further highlighted the irony of the US offering refugee status to a group that remained among the most economically privileged in South Africa, while simultaneously deporting vulnerable individuals from other parts of the world. 

He expressed concern over what he described as a “campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation”, noting that such narratives seemed to have found favor among decision-makers in the United States.

Additionally, Lamola reiterated that even Afrikaner groups have denied the existence of targeted persecution.

He cited data from the Transvaal Agricultural Union indicating that farm murders have declined in recent years, affecting both Black and white individuals.

It looks likely that Ramaphosa’s special envoy to the US, Jonas Mcebisi, will be part of the meeting with Trump.

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The first 49 white South Africans granted refugee status for being deemed victims of racial discrimination under an offer by U.S. President Donald Trump were flying to the U.S. on Monday.

Under Trump, Washington has blocked mostly non-white refugee admissions from the rest of the world but is prioritising Afrikaners, the descendants of mostly Dutch settlers.

Treating white South Africans as refugees fleeing oppression has drawn a mixture of alarm and ridicule by South African authorities, who say the Trump administration has waded into a domestic issue it does not understand.

South African media, too, have shown little sympathy for the asylum seekers, with many keeping them off front pages and calling them “refugees” in quotation marks.

The charter plane carrying the 49 from Johannesburg was due into Washington Dulles airport at around 12:30 (1630 GMT). People familiar with the matter said the South Africans would participate in a press conference before boarding flights to different U.S. destinations.

Some were heading to Democratic-leaning Minnesota, which has a reputation for welcoming refugees, while others planned to go to Republican-led states such as Idaho and Alabama, sources told Reuters.

South Africa maintains there is no evidence of persecution.

‘WRONG END OF THE STICK’?

Speaking at a conference in Ivory Coast, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the white South Africans had ostensibly left because they were opposed to policies aimed at addressing racial inequality persisting since apartheid.

“We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we’ll continue talking to them,” he said.

People interviewed by Reuters in Cape Town on Monday said they bore no ill will to their departing compatriots but doubted they would find life much better in the U.S.

“I don’t believe in running away from problems, you know, we’ve got a lovely country, and we make it work,” said Robert Skeen, a 47-year-old Afrikaner selling boerewors rolls, the South African equivalent of a hot dog.

“We’re really blessed in South Africa, … with all the drama going on, it’s still one of the best countries in the world to live in.”

Since Nelson Mandela brought democracy into South Africa in the 1994, the once-ruling white minority has retained most of their wealth amassed since colonial times.

Whites still own three-quarters of private land and have about 20 times the wealth of the Black majority, according to international academic journal the Review of Political Economy.

Less than 10% of white South Africans are out of work, compared with more than a third of their Black counterparts.

RIGHT-WING TROPE

Yet the claim that minority white South Africans face discrimination from the Black majority has become an established trope in right-wing online chatrooms, and had been echoed by Trump’s white South African-born ally Elon Musk.

Three white South Africans who had first-round interviews at the U.S. embassy in Pretoria told Reuters that officials asked questions about their experiences with land disputes, crime and perceived racial discrimination.

Ramaphosa signed a law this year that aims to make it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, which has caused concern among some white South Africans although no land has been seized.

INSIDE POLITICS

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