Two of the 49 Afrikaner “refugees” have shared their stories about why they decided to leave South Africa for the United States (US).
In February, US President Donald Trump instructed his officials to grant refugee status to Afrikaners, citing their experiences of discrimination. On Monday, 49 Afrikaners arrived in Washington and were welcomed by US Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau.
Thea van Straten, who owned a guesthouse and cattle in the Free State, said that she had been attacked four times on her farm in the last two years. In an interview with retired Army officer Colonel Chris Wyatt, she described her most recent attack, which occurred while she was applying for refugee status.
Afrikaner ‘refugees’ relocated to the US
“It’s not safe, I mean, I survived four attacks,” she said when asked why she decided to take ‘Trump’s offer’.
Van Straten said she was currently in the process of selling her farm.
“It’s me, myself and whatever I have in my banking accounts..and couple of suitcases. If it [the farm] doesn’t get sold, it doesn’t get sold. That’s it. I am taking the risk,” she said.
US welcomes 49 South Africans
Charl Kleinhaus (46) is another Afrikaner who applied for the refugee programme in the US. Speaking to BBC, he said he was living on his family farm in Mpumalanga before relocating to the States recently.
“I had to leave a five-bedroom house, which I will lose now because I’m not going to pay for it; [I left] my car behind, my dogs behind, my mother behind. I didn’t come here for fun, but my children are safe. If you are white, you are wrong in South Africa. You’re [labelled] a land thief, you’re a racist. I had nothing to do with apartheid, nothing, nothing, nothing,” Kleinhaus said.
Afrikaner have relocated to the US under the refugee programme
“It was overwhelming, I didn’t expect it because I thought we were going to be in a shuttle bus, take us somewhere and start working. All of us who are here know we’re going to start from the bottom,” he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with US leader Donald Trump in Washington DC next week.
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