White South Africans reject Trump’s offer to come to U.S. as ‘refugees’

On Friday, Trump issued an executive order sanctioning South Africa for its enactment of a land policy that Trump said would “enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation,” while also criticizing South Africa for its stances on Israel, Hamas and Iran. Accusing South Africa of targeting Afrikaners, Trump’s order follows up on an earlier threat by calling on the U.S. government to cut off all “aid or assistance to South Africa.” The order also calls on the United States to “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”

Trump’s offer has so far been rejected by representatives of the Afrikaners, who are the descendants of Dutch settlers and were the dominant force in South Africa during apartheid. The head of the trade union Solidarity, which claims to represent 2 million Afrikaners, responded to Trump’s offer by saying “we are committed to build a future here. We are not going anywhere.” AfriForum, another Afrikaner group, said “we have to state categorically: We don’t want to move elsewhere.”

White South Africans are taking to social media to reject notion they are oppressed

White South Africans have started mocking Trump on social media and are rejecting the notion they are oppressed. As Reuters reported, “in an Instagram video titled ‘a day in the life of an oppressed white South African”, a woman lies yawning in bed.” The woman continues in the video, “My husband brought me an iced coffee today because the most oppressive thing about this country is actually the sun.”

Also as reported by Reuters, “In another Instagram video, South African Indian comedian Sed Pillay plays the character of a white Afrikaner farmer applying for asylum in the United States who doesn’t want to leave behind his Black farm workers.”

@trtafrika The white population in South Africa has told United States President Donald Trump "no, thank you" after the American leader offered to resettle them as refugees in the US after South Africa recently passed land reform law. #africa #southafrica #trump #explained #africantiktok ♬ original sound – TRT Afrika

@sandf247 South African white farmers said that they will no leave their homeland county #newsupdate#southafricatiktok🇿🇦 #sandf #goviral @Daily Mail ♬ original sound – SANDF🇿🇦

Trump and Musk exacerbate South Africa tensions

Trump’s sanctions against South Africa and labeling of the Afrikaners as victims and “refugees” is the latest escalation of growing tensions between the country and the U.S. over the issues of white farmers who continue to own the majority of the country’s productive land. Groups like AfriForum have for years pushed a narrative that the Black-led government has been violently targeting white farmers in the country, catching the attention of Trump during his first term in office. And Elon Musk, a white South African-born billionaire who has become one of Trump’s most influential advisers in this presidential term, has pushed the idea that the current South African government is racist against white people.

The rhetoric by Trump and Musk has already created tension between the U.S. and South Africa, a country that has traditionally been a U.S. ally. The accusations over the country’s new land expropriation law is also exacerbating tensions within South Africa. The majority-white Democratic Alliance, the country’s second-largest party and part of the current ruling coalition, has sued the government over its controversial Expropriation Act, which allows the government to seize land without compensation in some circumstances. Meanwhile, the MK party, an opposition group led by former South African President Jacob Zuma, has accused AfriForum of “treason” for pushing “fraudulent representations” of the land law that led to Trump’s sanctions.

South African president says Trump is misunderstanding the U.S.’s funding to the country

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the ruling Africa National Congress party, has previously indicated that Trump is misunderstanding the purpose of its Expropriation Act and also noted that South Africa does not receive aid from the U.S. other than support for anti-HIV/AIDS efforts. Even so, the words and actions of the Trump administration are continuing to drive a wedge between the two countries while adding to the long-standing controversies over race and economic inequality in South Africa.