By Ben Emos & Mary Jones | Monday, February 10, 2025 | 4 min read
It’s unclear if Donald Trump has ever set foot in Africa, let alone South Africa, but his latest move suggests he hasn’t done his homework. His recent offer to grant refugee status to Afrikaners has left many white South Africans baffled, if not outright offended.
The people Trump is calling “refugees” aren’t living in makeshift camps or fleeing war-torn villages. Many of them reside in spacious homes that most Americans could only dream of, complete with domestic workers, security services, and comfortable lifestyles. The idea of relocating to refugee camps in Mississippi or South Carolina feels less like a rescue mission and more like a prison sentence to those who would be affected.
South Africa’s Foreign Ministry called Trump’s decision ironic, pointing out that Afrikaners remain among the most economically privileged groups in the country. The ministry also took a swipe at U.S. immigration policies, criticizing the Trump administration for prioritizing Afrikaners while deporting and denying asylum to vulnerable people from other parts of the world who are facing genuine hardship.
Trump’s executive order, signed on Friday, cuts U.S. aid to South Africa in response to a land reform bill recently signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The bill aims to correct historical land disparities that date back to the era of white-minority rule. Trump framed his decision as a move to protect “Afrikaners who are victims of unjust racial discrimination” by offering them refugee status in the U.S.
Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and French settlers, still own the majority of South Africa’s farmland. But even among right-wing Afrikaner groups, there’s little enthusiasm for Trump’s proposal. Many of them remain committed to staying and “tackling the injustices” of Black-majority rule within South Africa rather than seeking asylum elsewhere.
“If you haven’t got any problems here, why would you leave?” asked Neville van der Merwe, a 78-year-old pensioner from Bothasig, a suburb of Cape Town.
“There hasn’t been any real land grabs or chaos. Life carries on as usual. What would we even do over there?”
Ramaphosa’s land reform plan addresses the fact that three-quarters of privately owned land remains in white hands. His government argues that the policy is necessary to correct the forced removals of Black South Africans under apartheid, when the white-minority government seized millions of acres, displacing around 3.5 million Black citizens.
White South Africans make up just 7.2% of the country’s population of 63 million, though it’s unclear how many of them identify as Afrikaners.
Despite Trump’s grand offer, no Afrikaner advocacy group has shown serious interest in mass migration. AfriForum, an Afrikaner-led lobbying group that previously courted Trump’s administration on land issues, dismissed the idea outright.
“Emigration is an option for Afrikaners willing to risk losing their cultural identity,” said AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel. “For most of us, that price is simply too high.”
The Solidarity Movement, which includes AfriForum and the Solidarity trade union—representing about 600,000 Afrikaner families and around 2 million individuals—also rejected Trump’s proposal.
“We may disagree with the ANC, but we love our country. Some individuals may wish to emigrate, but repatriating Afrikaners as refugees is not a solution,” the group said in a statement.
Even Orania, an Afrikaner-only enclave in South Africa’s Northern Cape, dismissed Trump’s offer.
“Afrikaners do not want to be refugees. We love and are committed to our homeland,” the community said.
While some Afrikaners appreciated Trump’s gesture, few saw it as a realistic option.
“I think it’s a nice offer from Donald Trump,” said Werner van Niekerk, a 57-year-old carpenter from Bothasig. “But I’m not sure it’s necessary.”
Others simply mocked the idea.
“Is there a test to determine how Afrikaner you are? Do you need an AfriForum membership? Will Elon Musk help with some startup cash once we get there? And most importantly… do they have bakkies (pick-up trucks) in America?” journalist Pieter du Toit joked on X.
For now, it seems Trump’s refugee offer is more of a political stunt than a serious proposal—one that has landed with a thud among the very people it was meant to help.
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