‘They know they are living better’ — ANCYL president on white South Africans

President of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL), Collen Malatji, says white South Africans are living a better life because they own more than 80% of the land in the country.

He was reacting to the offer made by United States (US) President Donald Trump to relocate Afrikaner farmers and give them refugee status in America.

Trump’s offer to Afrikaners

Speaking during a press conference at the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg on Thursday, Malatji said many Afrikaners will not take Trump’s offer because they will not be comfortable in the US.

ALSO READ: AfriForum and Solidarity meet with top Trump officials [VIDEO]

“Donald Trump offered them refugee camps in the USA. We were ready to release them, they must go. They know they are living better in South Africa. They will never agree to go and stay in the USA because here in South Africa, they own 87% of the land,” he said.

According to a 2024 essay by Land Lead Researcher at the Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC) at the University of Cape Town, Katlego Ramantsima, and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Refiloe Joala; 86% of land “remained in white minority hands at the end of apartheid”.

Government acknowledged in 2017 that only around 10% of commercial farmland had been redistributed or restored to black South Africans in the 23 years that followed. 

AfriForum’s trip to America

Malatji said AfriForum, and other groups representing Afrikaner interests, must protect democracy’s gains and not destroy harmony among the country’s different races.

These comments come after AfriForum’s meeting with Trump administration officials in Washington earlier this week. The lobby group was in the US to present its complaints about the South African government and the ANC’s alleged race-based policies.

“If AfriForum does not want to work with us to build this nation and unite everyone, they are free to go to the USA. But if they want to work with us, they must come to the youth league. We will meet, and we will talk about how best we will redistribute the land,” he said.

Malatji said AfriForum must assist the country in restructuring the economy to ensure that it benefits the majority.

“Our doors are open here at Luthuli House. It’s better than them taking a flight and going to the USA; that will not assist them with anything. They must urgently engage with the ANC,” he said.

Malatji said it is not wise for Afrikaners to relocate and take up refugee status in the US because they will lose their culture and identity.

“They are not going to exist in the US. I am sure by now many Afrikaners who love South Africa will not agree with what AfriForum is doing,” he said.

AfriForum previously told The Citizen Afrikaners would not leave the country and instead were calling for punishment of the ANC over land expropriation.

In a document they presented this week in Washington, the groups asked Trump to put pressure on South Africa to declare farm murders a priority crime and to condemn politicians who called for the killing of farmers.

They also recommended that the US government provide aid to an Afrikaner development fund to assist with community infrastructure protecting Afrikaners.

Additional reporting by Masoka Dube

NOW READ: White South Africans are ‘rushing’ to take up Trump’s offer: Here’s how many have enquired so far