Former President Donald Trump wasn’t the first to spread alarmist claims about white South Africans. He claims that they are subjected to deliberate killing and appropriation of their territories, casting them as scapegoats. These statements, made during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, have sparked significant debate regarding the validity of his assertions and the implications for U.S. immigration policy.
At a confused and chaotic Oval Office meeting with Ramaphosa, Trump reportedly said some remarkable and remarkably racist things. He played a video, mischaracterizing it as evidence that there was a genocide against white people in South Africa. He recently claimed that thousands of white South African farmers are fleeing their home. Next they’re off to the US and Australia.
His response to such claims was to promise asylum for white farmers from South Africa. This step occurred despite the fact that the U.S. has largely cut off asylum access from almost every part of the globe. As of this year, the U.S. began accepting a small subset of white South Africans as refugees. Earlier this month, those fifty Afrikaners landed to meet Trump’s promise of “refuge.”
“You take a look at Australia – they’re being inundated, and we’re being inundated with people that want to get out, and their farm is valueless.” – Donald Trump
The idea that Trump is a big deal has been greeted with incredulity. The South African government has repeatedly claimed that these purported threats to white farmers are a mere fabrication. In 2018, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton proposed a special humanitarian intake for white South African farmers, asserting they “deserve special attention” and “need help from a civilised country like ours.” Yet the South African home affairs department failed to put in place any specific programme tailored to this group entering the country.
Critics argue that while South Africa does experience high murder and violent crime rates, the overwhelming majority of victims are Black citizens. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland slammed the Trump administration for making the refugee resettlement process a “global apartheid.” He accused them of favouring Afrikaners over other asylum seekers.
The debate on the plight of white South African farmers has been bubbling under the surface over the last few years as global migration patterns change. At present, South Africa is not one of the top ten source countries for humanitarian entrants to Australia. It is home to the seventh largest, and one of the most diverse, migrant communities in Australia. This community makes up just 2.6% of the foreign-born population and 0.8% of the overall population.
During his meeting with Ramaphosa, Trump reiterated his claims about violence against white farmers, stating, “You’re taking people’s land and those people in many cases are being executed,” further emphasizing that these individuals are predominantly white and involved in agriculture.
For his part, Ramaphosa took the diplomatic approach, recalling the late Nelson Mandela’s advice that problems should be solved through discussion, not confrontation. He laid a claim for continued conversation around this, showing willingness to work toward finding solutions to help those who need it most.
“We were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems, people need to sit down around the table and talk about them.” – Cyril Ramaphosa
Whatever the political ramifications and social ramifications of those remarks by Trump, this is far more complicated. Others, like Oppenheimer, overlook the struggles of marginalized communities in South Africa. While love is indeed in the air, they highlight the need to understand the larger narrative of violence that affects every demographic.