By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Department of International Relations and Corporation (DIRCO) has criticized the US refugee policy shift that gives priority to Afrikaners, the country’s white minority group.
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that a ceiling of 7,500 refugees would be admitted to the United States, a sharp decrease from the previous 125,000 spots, and said Afrikaners would be given preference over other groups.
US President Donald Trump says they are facing persecution and discrimination because of the country’s redress policies.
The International relations department said that the latest move was concerning as it “still appears to rest on a premise that is factually inaccurate.”
The claim of a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa is widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” Dirco said.
“This is further evidenced by the courageous and patriotic open letter from prominent members of the Afrikaner community themselves, who have publicly rejected this very narrative.
“Therefore, a programme designed to facilitate their immigration and resettlement as refugees is fundamentally flawed. The limited uptake of this offer by South Africans is a telling indicator of this reality.”
The department said the South African Constitution guarantees the right of any citizen to emigrate through legal channels.
“We must, however, draw a critical distinction between voluntary migration and refugee asylum.
“Conflating the two is a serious mischaracterisation that carries significant legal consequences for individuals and undermines international protection systems.”
Trump’s asylum offer for Afrikaners has been largely rejected even by many in the Afrikaner community.
This week, a group of prominent Afrikaners, including politicians, activists, writers and businesspeople, penned an open letter rejecting the notion that Afrikaners needed to emigrate from South Africa.
“The idea that white South Africans deserve special asylum status because of their race undermines the very principles of the refugee program. Vulnerability — not race — should guide humanitarian policy,” they wrote in the widely publicised letter.
It is one of the contentious issues that has seen diplomatic relations between South Africa and the US hit an all-time low, with Trump suspending all financial aid to South Africa and setting one of the highest tariffs for the country’s exports to the US.
South Africa values its strategic partnership with the United States and remains committed to collaborating on issues of mutual concern through dialogue and a shared respect for international law and national sovereignty, concluded Dirco.