‘We are here to stay’- AfriForum respond to Trump’s plans to resettle Afrikaaners as refugees

While US President Donald Trump has tasked his government with aiding ‘racially discriminated’ Afrikaans people and farmers, including resettling them in the US as refugees, civil rights organisation AfriForum says they will not be leaving SA.

Trump signed an executive order against South Africa on Friday, alleging human rights issues.

The White House said the order was in response to SA’s land policy that allows its government to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation” and SA’s genocide case against US ally Israel at the International Court of Justice.

It tasked the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to take appropriate steps “to prioritise humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Programme, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination”.

ALSO READ: Trump signs executive order against SA, promises to resettle Afrikaans ‘victims of racial discrimination’ as refugees

‘Here to stay’

Speaking to The Citizen, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said the organisation had noted Trump’s order but was committed to staying in South Africa.

“We have an appreciation for the fact that the US recognises the discrimination experienced by Afrikaners at the moment, but we do, however, see the future of Afrikaners in Africa.

“We were formed as a people in Africa and we can only survive as a cultural community on the southern top of Africa.

He said the price of leaving the country was “too high” and AfriForum would meet with the SA and US governments to find a solution to the country’s problems.

“We are here to stay. It might irritate the radical elements that hate us, but we are here to stay.”

It said this week that it would write an official letter to the US government requesting that any action against SA instead be directed at “senior ANC leaders directly and not South Africa’s residents”.

AfriForum and Solidarity will be holding a press conference later on Saturday to respond to the order more fully.

ALSO READ: Trump’s SA executive order: Government slams ‘propoganda’, takes shots at US refugee system

Trump suspends refugee programme

The order comes weeks after Trump ordered the suspension of all refugee admissions into the US and the reconfiguration of the admissions programme.

He claimed his country “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees”.  

“I, therefore, direct that entry into the United States of refugees under the US Refugee Admissions Program be suspended, subject to the exceptions set forth in subsection (c) of this section [Case-by-case basis]— until a finding is made in accordance with section 4 of this order [a report within 90 days on whether to allow refugees]. 

“This suspension shall take effect at 12:01 am Eastern Standard Time on January 27, 2025,” read that order dated 20 January.

ALSO READ: ‘SA can’t afford to be fixing fake news engineered by traitors’- Mashaba on Trump’s executive order

Last month, Trump froze key HIV/AIDS funding from the US to SA as part of his “America First” agenda.

He followed this up on earlier this week with a social media post slamming South Africa’s newly signed Expropriation Act, claiming the government is “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly”. The claims have been denied by SA President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ministers.

In the diplomatic storm that has followed, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pull out of an upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg, claiming “anti-Americanism”.

ALSO READ: Government won’t let HIV/AIDS patients suffer as US freezes aid – Motsoaledi

Expropriation Act

Ramaphosa recently signed the controversial Expropriation Act into law, which allows for the expropriation of land with nil compensation if it is in the public interest.

The DA challenged the Act, who claimed there were material and concerning inconsistencies in it and threatened legal action.

Amid Trump’s actions over the Act, the DA has clarified that it does not support it but “South African citizens should not be punished by the US for bad policy”.

NOW READ: Trump’s SA executive order: The ANC, DA and GNU’s conundrum