Pretoria says it knows of no emergency. The South African government and two Afrikaner advocacy groups all rejected, on Wednesday, the Trump administration’s claim that white people in South Africa face a humanitarian emergency.
That claim is the stated reason for a change to U.S. refugee policy. On Tuesday the administration said it would admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans as refugees this year. The annual cap goes up, but only for Afrikaners, and people from other countries stay locked out of the programme. A notice from President Donald Trump on the Federal Register justified the increase by pointing to “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation.”
South Africa’s international relations department called accusations of systemic persecution of white Afrikaners unfounded. Its evidence: some people who took up the preferential immigration offer have since gone back. “This reality is further corroborated by the actions of individuals who, despite having availed themselves of this preferential immigration programme, have since resolved to return home,” spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said.
Afrikaner groups push back
The groups that claim to speak for Afrikaners were no more willing to endorse the White House’s reasoning.
Solidariteit, an Afrikaner trade union, said refugee status is not a workable answer and that Afrikaners should thrive at home. Spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said the union never discussed any “unforeseen emergency refugee situation” with the administration, though it respects the autonomy of U.S. refugee policy toward Afrikaners. The union, he said, “is in no way aware of anything that the Trump administration could be referring to.”
AfriForum, a lobbying organisation for the white Afrikaner minority with more than 300,000 members, said it “does not have information” on the specific assertion of an emergency. Its chief executive, Kallie Kriel, said the group is “fighting to create the circumstances in South Africa where there is no need for Afrikaners to leave.”
A refugee programme reshaped
Trump suspended the U.S. refugee programme on his first day in office. Since then he has used it to bring in Afrikaners, white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers.
Advocates say narrowing a decades-old programme to a single group has stranded people around the world who are fleeing war and strife, and left them with few options.
Sources
- TRT Afrika – South Africa rejects US position that there's a humanitarian emergency for white people
