Thanks, But No: South African Whites Decline Trump's Migration Plan

In a recent executive order, President Donald Trump announced a reduction in the US aid to South Africa, citing the country’s land expropriation act signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

This controversial legislation aims to address historic land inequalities by allowing the government to expropriate land in the public interest. The act has provoked significant reactions, particularly from Afrikaners, the white descendants of early Dutch and French settlers, whom Trump characterizes as victims of racial discrimination. Despite the president’s offer for Afrikaners to resettle in the United States, many within the community are hesitant to leave South Africa.

Right-wing lobby groups in the country have expressed a strong preference to remain and confront the challenges posed by the current government, which is led by the African National Congress (ANC). Neville van der Merwe, a 78-year-old pensioner from Bothasig near Cape Town, articulates this sentiment, stating that life for Afrikaners continues without significant threats to their property or livelihoods.

The land expropriation policy, rooted in the need to correct racial land ownership disparities, has attracted criticism and concern. As of the present, the majority of privately owned land in South Africa remains concentrated in the hands of the white minority, which constitutes approximately 7.2 percent of the nation’s population of 63 million. One prominent Afrikaner group, AfriForum, which has actively lobbied the Trump administration, outright rejected the offer of the US resettlement.

According to CEO Kallie Kriel, emigration would pose a grave risk to the cultural identity of Afrikaners, a cost they are unwilling to incur. The Solidarity Movement, which encompasses AfriForum and represents around 600,000 Afrikaner families, echoes this commitment to South Africa, despite their dissatisfaction with the ANC. Even representatives from Orania, a self-declared Afrikaner-only enclave, have declined Trump's offer, reaffirming their allegiance to South Africa and their reluctance to become refugees.

Reactions to Trump's offer have varied, with some members of the Afrikaner community finding humour in the situation. Author Pieter du Toit, for instance, humorously ponders the logistics of such a resettlement initiative, speculating on the role that South African-born billionaire Elon Musk could play. Meanwhile, the land expropriation policy remains a contentious point in South Africa's post-apartheid narrative.