While the Trump administration has expedited refugee status for a small subset of Afrikaners, a White ethnic minority from South Africa, based on claims of violence and discrimination, some members of the Afrikaner community are publicly refuting the narrative of a “White genocide” in the country.
The U.S. policy, highlighted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a “small subset” of overall refugee admissions, has sparked controversy. Afrikaners, who were the dominant group during South Africa’s apartheid regime that ended in 1994, are reportedly eager to take advantage of this special treatment to gain protected status in the U.S.
Dolf Grobler, a professional hunter who has applied for asylum, told CBS News of his concerns that the “genocide, which is currently mainly focused on White farmers, is going to spread.” This claim has been supported by President Trump’s advisor Elon Musk, whose family has Afrikaner roots.
However, during a White House meeting on Wednesday where President Trump hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the issue of Afrikaner refugees was discussed. President Ramaphosa directly challenged President Trump’s assertions that White individuals, particularly farmers, are being specifically targeted and executed.
“Those people in many cases, are being executed, being executed, and they happen to be White, and most happen to be farmers,” President Trump said, describing the situation as “sort of the opposite of apartheid.”
President Ramaphosa countered, stating, “People who do get killed, unfortunately, through criminal activity, are not only White people. Majority of them are Black people.”
According to data from the South African Police Service, in the last three months of 2024, 12 farm murders occurred. Of these victims, one was a White farmer, while the remaining eleven were Black laborers or security workers.
When asked if his life was better under apartheid, Dolf Grobler stated, “Yes… I can’t say in my heart that we are better off now,” although he acknowledged that apartheid was wrong.
The claim of a “White genocide” is often promoted by right-wing groups but is not widely accepted within the broader Afrikaner community.
Piet Croucamp, an Afrikaner commentator and academic at North-West University in South Africa, dismissed the claims as “simply untrue.” He asserted, “There’s no sign of it, never has been. In fact, Whites are economically the strongest group” in South Africa. Croucamp pointed out that White individuals hold 64% of boardroom positions and have significantly higher average incomes, better schools, education, and access to private healthcare, describing South Africa as “the land of milk and honey if you’re White.”
Croucamp speculated that the South African government’s criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and its relationship with China might be a factor in President Trump’s policy, but he believes right-wing groups with access to the Trump administration are also playing a significant role in promoting the “genocide narrative.”
During a Senate hearing, Secretary of State Rubio defended the U.S. policy, stating that foreign policy “doesn’t require even-handedness, it involves prioritizing the interests of the United States… The United States has a right to pick and choose who they allow into the United States.”
While White South Africans constitute only about 7% of the country’s population, they still own over half of the farmland. Afrikaner cattle farmer Nick Serfontein acknowledged the high crime rate and attacks on farmers, particularly near impoverished urban areas. However, he stated that racial motives are not generally a factor and that he feels safe on his farm.
Serfontein also addressed claims of land expropriation without compensation, noting that while a recent law allows for such expropriation under limited circumstances for public use, it does not specifically target White landowners and has not been implemented in the 31 years since the end of apartheid. He attributed land issues to a “dysfunctional government” rather than a deliberate effort to seize White-owned land without compensation. Serfontein highlighted his involvement in a project training Black farmers, expressing optimism about the future of agriculture in South Africa, where he believes most people understand the need for land to be shared by both Black and White communities. He bluntly stated regarding the “White genocide” claim, “It’s not happening.”
Discussion about this post