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US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP / Olivier Douliery
US President Trump has offered an expedited pathway to US citizenship for white South Africans, falsely claiming that the government was confiscating their land and calling their treatment in the country “terrible.”
According to Trump, “any farmer” who is “seeking to flee” South Africa “for reasons of safety” can now apply to become a US citizen – rather than a refugee.
“South Africa is being terrible, plus, to long time farmers in the country. They are confiscating their land and farms, and much worse than that. A bad place to be right now, and we are stopping all federal funding.
Trump signed an executive order last month halting federal aid to South Africa after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act, which the US president said imposes “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaner farmers.
“To go a step further, any farmer (with family!) from South Africa, seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety, will be invited into the United States of America with a rapid pathway to citizenship. This process will begin immediately!” he wrote in a Friday morning post on Truth Social.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, responded to Trump’s post
“We are not going to partake in counterproductive megaphone diplomacy. We remain committed to building a mutually beneficial bilateral trade, political and diplomatic relationship with the United States. Obviously, it must be a relationship that is based on mutual respect and respect for our independence and sovereignty,” Magwenya told The Citizen.
Trump didn’t provide additional details about the immediate plan, but wrote in his February order that the US. would “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation” and directed his Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to prioritize their resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Programme.”
This prompted about 1,500 Afrikaners, including a handful who had slept on the pavement outside the American Embassy in Pretoria last month, to hand over a memorandum thanking Trump for his support.
“The US Embassy in South Africa received a petition this morning addressed to President Donald Trump, seeking US support to change policies and laws affecting the Afrikaner community in South Africa. We will transmit the full text of the document to the president and Secretary of State for immediate action,” the embassy said.
A week later, Afrikaner lobby groups Solidarity and AfriForum travelled to the United States and handed over the “Washington Memorandum”, asking the US to provide humanitarian assistance for Afrikaner development.
The organisations under the Solidarity Movement met with senior representatives of the Donald Trump administration at the White House.
While Trump halted funding for South Africa, the Solidarity Movement wants the US to provide aid to a development fund to assist with community infrastructure protecting Afrikaners.
The groups urged Trump to continue applying pressure on the government.
“This includes safety structures, social structures, job structures, training structures and infrastructure to settle Afrikaners in a concentrated manner,” the memo read.
It added: “That pressure be put on South Africa to declare farm murders a priority crime and to take decisive action against those calling for violence against Afrikaners.
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Last week, Hawks boss Godfrey Lebeya confirmed that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) is investigating four case dockets of high treason linked to claims of a white genocide against farmers in the country.
Last month, Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie said he and AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel agreed that there is no white genocide in South Africa.
“So you are saying there is no white genocide in South Africa?” McKenzie asked.
“No, we’ve never said that, but there is a serious problem,” Kriel replied.
However, McKenzie pushed Kriel for clarity.
“Of course there is a problem, people being killed on their farms is a problem, but you’re saying there’s no white genocide?” McKenzie asked Kriel again.
“Genocide is what we saw in Rwanda,” Kriel said.
Responding to the treason allegations, Kriel in a post on X, said they are not worried about the high treason charges against them, as they are “baseless”.
“I will not be having any sleepless nights over this as these complaints are baseless. If the state, however, goes ahead with this, it will make us stronger. It would confirm the point that there are ANC leaders who are abusing their power to govern against certain sections of the population.
“It’s also ludicrous because we have many ANC leaders implicated of corruption at the Zondo Commission, and the Hawks are not acting against them,” Kriel said.
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Ramaphosa also addressed the crisis and slammed AfriForum and Solidarity’s visit to Washington amid ongoing tensions between South Africa and the US.
“What they are doing has spawned divisions in our nation, and that is not a nation-building process — running around the world trying to have your problems solved.
“You are just sowing divisions because now a number of South Africans then start looking at others negatively, and I don’t think that is the right way to handle our problems,“ Ramaphosa told journalists after speaking at an education lekgotla in Boksburg, Gauteng.
However, Kriel defended the visit, asserting that the organisations’ trip was driven by frustrations with the South African government’s refusal to address their concerns.
As tensions between South Africa and the United States simmer, the DA concluded a week-long working visit to Washington to stabilise diplomatic relations between the two countries.
DA spokesperson on International Relations & Cooperation Emma Powell said her party remains dedicated to building a “mutually beneficial bilateral relationship with the United States during this period of heightened tensions.”
“During the visit, the DA engaged with key decision-makers across Congress, the State Department, and the White House. These discussions aimed to ensure that US leaders receive accurate and fact-based information regarding South Africa’s domestic landscape and the challenges our nation is currently navigating,” Powell said.
Powell said the DA emphasised the importance of maintaining strong communication channels between the two nations.
ALSO READ: Here’s what happened when the DA visited Washington
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