US President Donald Trump has signed off on an executive order granting white South Africans, particularly Afrikaners, refugee status. However, many Saffas, including AfriForum members, have claimed that they are not interested in leaving.
The offer comes amid a week of tensions between the countries over what America believes is racial discrimination.
DONALD TRUMP GRANTS ACCESS TO AFRIKANERS
On Friday, 7 February, Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing all aid to South Africa. He also ordered the U.S. refugee program to prioritise South Africans of “European descent.”
The controversial president proposed that the US would “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”
In his order, he called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
It’s unclear how the process would work as Trump has halted all refugees from entering the country.
This week, the US President chastised South Africa for “confiscating land” and treating “certain classes of people very badly.”
Trump was referring to the Expropriation Act, which SA President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed.
He was backed by South African-born right-hand man, Elon Musk, who criticised his home country for promoting “outright racist laws.”
WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS: ‘WE ARE STAYING’
Meanwhile, AfriForum – an NGO promoting the interests of Afrikaners – has declined Donald Trump’s invitation, citing expenses, inconveniences, and the potential loss of their culture.
The organisation’s Kallie Kriel told the SABC: “The Afrikaners became a people on the southern tip of Africa. We will not survive as a cultural community anywhere else in the world.
People who are leaving would know that their children would not be Afrikaners anymore. The prices are too high to pay. We want to find an urgent solution.
“This would be a detriment to all the people of this country. We are loyal to the people of this country. We will not turn our back on a place we call our home”.
Kriel proposed that a dialogue between authorities should be engaged to “stop the discrimination” against Afrikaners.
On social media, many white South Africans agreed.
@UlrichJvV:“I’m not leaving. 🇿🇦❤️”
@twatterbaas: “I will stay and work and give jobs until the day you try to expropriate my land. Come that day, when I run out of ammo, only then will I leave.”
@philcraig2: “Our home is here, and we will stay and fight for it”
WOULD YOU CONSIDER TAKING UP DONALD TRUMP’S OFFER?
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