• A group of white Afrikaners are set to arrive in the US next week under “refugee” status, the New York Times has said.
• The US plans to fast-track “white Afrikaner refugees”, citing alleged persecution following South Africa’s Expropriation Bill.
• Influenced by Elon Musk and misinformation from right-wing social media accounts, President Trump declared Afrikaners a priority, with 100 potential “refugees” already identified.
The first tranche of “white Afrikaner refugees” could be in the United States as early as next week, a New York Times report has said.
By the end of March, US President Donald Trump set up a programme called “Mission South Africa” to grant refugee status to white Afrikaners, hoping to resettle them in America.
He included an exception for white Afrikaners in the refugee suspension order he signed in February, citing his belief that they are being persecuted.
This was in response to the Expropriation Act, which was signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in January.
The Act explains the rules for when and how the government can take private land, aligning with South Africa’s Constitution. According to Section 25 of the Constitution, land can only be taken without paying compensation if it is not being used and if doing so serves public interest.
The Act stresses that expropriation is a vital tool for the government to acquire land for public use. However, the government can only proceed with expropriation if they have tried and failed to come to an agreement with the landowner, as explained by the presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.
Although the Expropriation Act does not target white people or Afrikaners, Elon Musk, who has the ear of the US president, has interacted with several “Afrikaner commentators” on his social media platform X and has cited the signing of the Expropriation Act, that could in some circumstances result in expropriation without compensation, as an example of discrimination.
Last week, News24 unmasked one of the X accounts, @twatterbaas, with which Musk interacted with regularly and subscribed to. The report found that by posting “racist tropes and promoting selective views”, the page run by 46-year-old Sebastiaan Jooste has reinforced misinformation about South Africa in the eyes of Musk and, ultimately, Trump.
On Friday, the New York Times reported on information from officials briefed on the mission to give Afrikaners refugee status.
They further stated that documents from the US Department of Health and Human Services, which it obtained, showed that the Trump administration was working to bring white Afrikaners into the country under refugee status by next week.
According to the publication, government officials are set to arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia to receive the Afrikaner “refugees”. However, the exact date of arrival has yet to be confirmed.
While refugees could wait in camps around the world for up to two years before they are eligible to get refugee status in the US, Afrikaners, who have been classified in the US as a white minority ethnic group, have only waited three months to get refugee status, the New York Times reported.
The publication said that within weeks of Trump declaring refugee status for white Afrikaners, teams were deployed to Pretoria to screen potential “refugees” for consideration.
There were allegedly over 8 000 applications, but the US allegedly only identified 100 potential refugees – the boere, or Afrikaans farmers, were allegedly prioritised.
The US administration is preparing to help Afrikaners with temporary housing, basic household items, prepaid phones, clothing and food, reported the New York Times.
US Embassy responds
Responding to detailed queries from News24 on Friday, including questions about the cost of relocation and the number of “refugees”, the US State Department said it had been reviewing “inquiries from individuals who have expressed interest” in resettling to the United States.
“The US Embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews and processing pursuant to President Trump’s executive order on addressing egregious actions of the Republic of South Africa.
“While we are unable to comment on individual cases, the Department of State is prioritising consideration for US refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination,” it said.
The State Department said it had “nothing further to announce at this time”.
