South African Afrikaner rights groups reject US President Donald Trump’s offer of refugee status, despite his executive order claiming racial discrimination against the ethnic minority.
Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday directing US officials to prioritize refugee status for South African Afrikaners, but the move faces immediate pushback from the very groups it aims to help. AfriForum, a prominent civil rights organization representing Afrikaner interests, declared they have no intention of leaving the country.
“We have an appreciation for the fact that the US recognizes the discrimination experienced by Afrikaners at the moment, but we do, however, see the future of Afrikaners in Africa,” AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel told The Citizen.
The White House order cites South Africa’s new land policy and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice as justification for the measure. It instructs the Secretary of State and Homeland Security Secretary to facilitate admission of Afrikaners through the US Refugee Admissions Programme.
At a press conference Saturday, Solidarity chairperson Flip Buys emphasized their group had not accused the government of race-based land grabs. “We were not aware that Mr Trump would issue this order and believe that it is not in the interest of South Africa if there is a deterioration in relations with the US,” Buys said.
The order comes amid growing tensions between the two nations. Trump recently froze HIV/AIDS funding to South Africa and criticized the country’s new Expropriation Act, which allows for land expropriation without compensation if deemed in the public interest.
AfriForum plans to engage both South African and US governments to address concerns while remaining in the country. “We are here to stay. It might irritate the radical elements that hate us, but we are here to stay,” Kriel stated.
The organization announced it would formally request the US government to direct any action specifically at “senior ANC leaders directly and not South Africa’s residents.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ministers have denied Trump’s claims about land confiscation and discrimination. The diplomatic fallout has already led US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to withdraw from an upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg.
The timing is particularly notable as Trump recently suspended all refugee admissions to the United States, claiming the country lacks capacity to absorb large numbers of migrants while maintaining resource availability for Americans.
