Roelf Meyer, South Africa’s new ambassador to Washington, has rejected claims that white Afrikaners are facing genocide in South Africa, saying there is no evidence of a mass campaign against the country’s white minority.
Meyer, who is himself an Afrikaner, said his personal background gives him a clear understanding of the issue. His comments come as relations between South Africa and the United States remain tense over accusations of racial persecution, violent crime and land policies.
According to BBC, Meyer said that he was surprised when President Donald Trump began describing violence against white Afrikaners as genocide. He said he even wondered whether Trump was referring to people like him. While Meyer acknowledged that South Africa has a serious crime problem, he said it affects people across the country and is not limited to white farmers. Police data shows that Black people make up the majority of crime victims in South Africa, including victims of violence on farms.
Trump’s claims have also led to a special U.S. refugee pathway for Afrikaners. The Trump administration created the program after accusing South Africa of failing to protect white people from persecution. The administration has since proposed admitting up to 17,500 additional white Afrikaners as refugees over the next year. Nearly 13,000 refugees had already entered the United States through the program, with all but three coming from South Africa.
Some Afrikaners say their own experiences explain why they support the program. One South African woman who moved to Texas with her family said she lived on a farm protected by walls, an electric fence and guard dogs. She said she saw people enter the property several times and lived in constant fear, although she and her family were never physically harmed. She also said people she knew had been brutally attacked.
Other Afrikaners have made similar claims about farm violence, while an Afrikaner political group has held events in Washington to remember people it says were victims of farm attacks. However, some Afrikaners in South Africa have questioned why white people are being singled out when violence affects other communities as well.
Meyer brings decades of political experience to the dispute. He was one of the main negotiators who helped end apartheid in the 1990s while representing the National Party, which had enforced white-minority rule. Ramaphosa also took part in the negotiations for the African National Congress. Meyer said their history helped establish trust between them and was one reason Ramaphosa appointed him to help repair relations with Washington. He now wants the U.S. to reconsider policies directed at South Africa, including the refugee program and measures tied to racial discrimination and land reform.
Instead of treating farm violence as a separate issue, Meyer has urged the United States to consider South Africa’s wider crime crisis. He said serious violence also affects Black communities and urban areas, particularly townships. He has called for greater cooperation between Washington and Pretoria, including U.S. resources and equipment that could help South African authorities respond to crimes more quickly. Meyer also urged Afrikaners protesting in the United States to work toward solutions inside South Africa rather than focusing only on demonstrations abroad. The dispute continues as both governments address disagreements over crime, land policy, racial inequality and the treatment of Afrikaners.
SOURCE: blacknews.com