According to Neil Diamond, President of the South African Chamber of Commerce, over 70,000 Afrikaners expressed interest in fleeing South Africa and seeking asylum in the United States. But when the time came, only 49 actually left. That’s not even a fraction of a percent of the 3 million Afrikaners living in South Africa today.
Let that sink in: 49 out of over three million. This isn’t a mass exodus. It’s political theatre.
The claim of a “white genocide” in South Africa is not just a myth—it is a deliberate distortion of reality, peddled by organisations like AfriForum and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+). They have lobbied abroad, especially in the U.S., painting white South Africans as victims of racial persecution. This narrative is not just false. It’s dangerous.
Back in 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that his administration would investigate the “large-scale killing of farmers” in South Africa. This was not grounded in verified intelligence, but inspired by a sensationalised Fox News segment. Right-wing lobby groups quickly seized the moment to promote their victimhood narrative.
Fast forward
Fast forward to 2025: On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order halting refugee admissions and cancelling 10,000 resettlement flights—leaving 22,000 already-approved refugees in limbo. Yet just weeks later, on 7 February, he issued a new executive order specifically granting refugee status to white Afrikaners, citing unverified claims of persecution in South Africa.
This decision was not grounded in compassion. It was based on misinformation. Trump was misled by propaganda—false claims that painted Afrikaners as victims of persecution. And in response, he bypassed his own executive in order to rescue people who didn’t need saving. But let’s be honest—real refugees, escaping war in Sudan, persecution in Syria, or political chaos in Haiti, could have used those slots far more urgently. This was not justice. It was a misuse of international protection frameworks.
According to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, a refugee is someone with a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular group. Fear of losing privilege or discomfort with democracy does not qualify.
Yes, South Africa struggles with crime. Murder rates are high, and the country is not without its challenges. But crime affects everyone. According to the South African Police Service’s 2022/2023 statistics, farm murders—often used to justify claims of “white genocide”—constituted less than 1% of all murders. And both black and white farmers are victims. In many cases, black farm workers face even greater violence.
Economically, Afrikaners remain among the most privileged groups. According to Stats SA’s 2022/2023 Income and Expenditure Survey, the average monthly income of white households was R24,400. For comparison: Indian households earned R15,200, coloured households R9,900, and black African households just R5,800. That’s not persecution—it’s privilege.
In terms of unemployment, the disparity remains stark. As of late 2024, black South Africans faced an unemployment rate of 36%, while white South Africans faced just 7%. These figures show who still benefits from South Africa’s economic structure—and it’s not the majority.
Land ownership tells a similar story. The 2017 Land Audit found that 72% of privately-owned farmland remains in white hands, despite white South Africans making up less than 8% of the population (this stat is inaccurate, see here: Ed.). Yet AfriForum campaigns internationally against “land grabs,” opposing the Expropriation Bill signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in January 2025. The bill allows for expropriation without compensation only in lawful cases, such as abandoned or unused land. It doesn’t target white farmers, nor does it end private ownership. It seeks to address historical dispossession—not repeat it.
So why did these 49 Afrikaners leave? Not because they were being hunted or persecuted. They left because they no longer enjoy dominance in a country committed to transformation and equality. Their exit is not a response to danger—it’s a rejection of democracy.
Let’s be clear
Let’s be clear: anyone who feels uncomfortable living under a democratic, black-majority government is free to leave. But they should not lie. They should not call themselves refugees. And they should not defame the country they choose to abandon.
There is no white genocide in South Africa. What exists is a slow, overdue reckoning with centuries of injustice. Transformation is not persecution—it is the pursuit of justice.
The poetic justice in all of this is unmistakable. In lying about South Africa—about genocide, persecution, and fear—people have traded the privileges of full citizenship for the hardships of refugee life in a country they were never truly escaping to but fleeing to, out of arrogance and imagined victimhood. They gave up the privileges of citizenship for the uncertainty and limitations of refugee life.
In South Africa, despite the challenges of a transitioning democracy, they still lived with immense structural advantages. However, they now live as refugees—dependent on state assistance, often limited in their ability to work freely, and restricted in movement and rights until they attain permanent status, which may take years.
They are no longer landowners but tenants. No longer employers but jobseekers. No longer part of a dominant class, but just another immigrant group navigating a complex and often unwelcoming system.
Self-imposed exile
Those 49 individuals now live in self-imposed exile, having claimed refugee status under false pretences. They occupy spaces that should have gone to those genuinely in need. And unless they admit that their claims were false – a form of perjury that could bar them from future entry into the US or South Africa ̶ these 49 people will now live in self-imposed exile, not as victims, but as actors in a political charade.
The real tragedy is not that a few chose to leave. It’s that they did so by exploiting a system meant to save lives, all while undermining South Africa’s progress on the world stage.
South Africa is far from perfect, but it belongs to those who believe in justice, dignity, and equality. To Afrikaners committed to that vision: your country needs you. To those who long for a past of domination—go, if you must. But go honestly. Don’t call it genocide.
South Africa deserves better. And the world deserves the truth.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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