Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela, great-grandson of former President Nelson Mandela, has launched a scathing public rebuke of a group of 49 Afrikaners who reportedly left South Africa for the United States, claiming refugee status amid allegations of “white genocide”.
Mayibuye took to Facebook to condemn the group’s departure, describing the move as “clownish theatrics” and a “drama club on tour.”
His comments followed reports that a chartered flight had carried the first group of Afrikaners out of the country citing political persecution and fears over land reform.
“So 49 Afrikaners packed their bags and fled to the US claiming they’re ‘refugees’? Refugees from what? From sharing power?” Mayibuye wrote in a strongly worded post.
“Imagine colonising a land, benefiting from stolen wealth for centuries, then crying ‘refugee’ because justice is finally knocking,” he added. “That’s not exile. That’s drama.”
Mayibuye, who is also the founder and CEO of the Melisizwe Mandela Foundation, dismissed the “white genocide” narrative as a fabrication used to undermine the country’s long-overdue transformation.
“They rewrite history, protect apartheid symbols, and shout ‘civilisation’ like we don’t remember the cost of their rise,” he wrote in an earlier post, drawing attention to the socioeconomic privilege enjoyed by white South Africans during apartheid and the enduring inequalities in post-apartheid South Africa.
The self-declared Afrikaner refugees are said to be seeking asylum in the US, a move Mayibuye criticised as futile.
Only 49 left? After all the noise about genocide, that’s just a drama club on tour. @realDonaldTrump should’ve given them a ship to match the lies they came with.
Let them go. We stay. We build. Land will still be expropriated without compensation. Nothing changes. pic.twitter.com/dWOR2EsSFs
— Mayibuye Melisizwe Mandela (@Cde_MM_Mandela) May 11, 2025
“No more Boer privileges. No special treatment. Just another immigrant in a system that won’t pronounce your name or care about your false superiority,” he warned.
Mayibuye reiterated his support for land expropriation without compensation, stating unequivocally: “Land in South Africa will be expropriated without compensation. Not even America will stop that. Not your embassy. Not your asylum papers. Not your tears.”
The provocative remarks have sparked a heated debate online, with some praising Mayibuye for speaking truth to power, while others accused him of stoking racial tensions.
First published by African Insider
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Also see: Afrikaners touch down in the US, ‘They don’t want to embrace change’ – Ramaphosa
