The United States’ decision to give preference to white Afrikaners’ asylum applications has been denounced by the South African government as “misguided” and founded on unsubstantiated allegations of a “white genocide.”
The government responded in a statement that claims that white South Africans were being persecuted or targeted on a systematic basis were not supported by any reliable evidence. It also referenced an open letter written by well-known Afrikaners earlier in the week, in which they categorically denied the story, with some accusing the US relocation plan of being racist and politically driven.
South Africa’s latest crime statistics show no evidence that white citizens are more frequently victims of violent crime than any other racial group. The government stressed that violent crime affects all South Africans, and using it to justify racialised asylum policies is “deeply irresponsible.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration said the controversy stems from Trump’s long-standing opposition to South Africa’s land reform policy, which allows the government to seize land without compensation in exceptional cases.
The dispute has further strained US-South Africa relations, especially after Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was expelled from Washington for accusing Trump of “mobilising supremacism” and “projecting white victimhood as a dog whistle.”
During a May 2025 Oval Office meeting, Trump reportedly confronted Ramaphosa, claiming that white farmers were being “killed and persecuted.” According to reports, Trump even held up a photo that he said showed body bags of murdered white South Africans — but the Reuters news agency later revealed the image was taken years earlier in the Democratic Republic of Congo, unrelated to South Africa.
Washington refused to comment on the photo blunder, though it later emerged that the White House video presentation also included misleading footage. Officials said the clip showed burial sites for murdered farmers, but investigators later confirmed it was from a 2020 protest, where crosses symbolised victims of farm attacks spanning multiple years.
The South African government said these distortions prove that the narrative of white persecution is a “manufactured myth” used to inflame racial tensions. It reaffirmed its commitment to protecting all citizens equally, regardless of race, and called on the US to “avoid importing falsehoods into its foreign policy decisions.”
Earlier in the year, Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners, who are largely descendants of Dutch and French settlers, following the signing of the land reform law.
