Are white South Africans confronted with a genocide as Donald Trump claims?

US President Donald Trump has given members of the Afrikaner refugee status of South Africa, claiming that a genocide took place in the country.

Almost 60 of them arrived in the US after they have received asylum.

The South African government allowed the American embassy to consider their applications in the country and to leave the group council a chartered flight from the most important international airport in Johannesburg – not scenes that are normally associated with refugees who fall.

South African history Online summarizes their identity by pointing out that “modern Afrikaner is mainly a descendant of Western Europeans who settled in the mid -17th century on the southern point of Africa”.

A mixture of Dutch (34.8%), German (33.7%) and French (13.2%) Settlers formed a “unique cultural group” that identified “fully with African soil”, South African history noted online.

Their language, African, is free to Dutch.

But while they planted their roots in Africa, Afrikaners, like other white communities, forced black people to leave their land.

Afrikaners are also known as Boers, which actually means farmer, and the group is still closely linked to agriculture.

In 1948, the government of South Africa, led by Afrikaner, introduced apartheid, or apartments, with racial segregation to a more extreme level.

This included laws that forbade marriages in racial lines, many skilled and semi-skilled jobs for white people reserved and forced black people to live in what Townships and home countries were called.

They were also denied a decent education, in which Afrikaner Hendrik Verwoerd in the 1950s noticed that “blacks should never be shown the greener meadows of education. They must know that their station is in life to be of wood and water loading”.

Afrikaner Dominance of South Africa ended in 1994, when black people were allowed to vote for the first time in a national election, so that Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) were brought to power.

Afrikaners currently have more than 2.5 million from a population of more than 60 million – about 4%.

None of the political parties of South Africa – including those who represent Afrikaners and the white community in general – claimed that there is a genocide in South Africa.

But such claims have been circulating under right -wing groups for many years and Trump also referred to a genocide during his first term.

The claims stem from attacks on white farmers, or misleading information that is spread online.

In February a South African judge the idea of ​​a genocide rejected As “clearly imagined” and “not real”, when rule in an inheritance case with regard to the donation of a rich benefactor on the white supremacist group of Boerelegiesen.

South Africa does not release any figures of crime on the basis of race, but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were killed in the country between October and December 2024.

Of these, 12 were killed at farm attacks. Of the 12, one was a farmer, while five farm residents were and four employees, who would probably have been black.

Trump defended his decision to give Afrikaners’ refugee status, Trump said that a “genocide” took place in South Africa, white farmers were “brutally killed” and their “land is seized”.

Trump said he was not sure how he could attend the G20 top of world leaders, which would be held in South Africa later this year, in such an environment.

“I don’t know how we can go unless that situation is arranged,” he added.

The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, said that it was “completely incorrect” to claim that “people of a certain race or culture are the target of persecution”.

Referring to the first group that moved to the US, he said: “They leave because they do not want to embrace the changes that take place in our country and our Constitution.”

The government denies that the country of farmers is seized and says that a bill Ramaphosa signed the law in January was aimed at tackling the unforeseen landleaving with which black people were confronted during the rule of the white minority.

But the law was convicted by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the most important coalition partner of Ramaphosa in the government. The DA says it will challenge the law in the highest court of South Africa, because it threatens property rights.

Trump’s close adviser Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, referred to the “racist property laws” of the country, claiming that his satellite interinet -internet provider Starlink “was not allowed to operate in South Africa, simply because I am not black”.

To work in South Africa, Starlink must obtain network and service licenses, both of which require 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups.

This mainly refers to the majority of the majority of South Africa, which was excluded during the racist system of apartheid.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) – a regulatory body in telecommunication and temporary employment sectors – told the BBC that Starlink had never submitted a request for a license.

Musk has also accused Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the fourth largest party in South Africa, of “active promoting” of a genocide by a song that sings on its rallies.

Eff leader Julius Malema’s trademark song is “Shoot the Boer, Shoot the Farmer”, which he sings on political rallies.

Afrikaner -Lobby groups have tried to have the song banished, saying that it was very inflammatory rammar and came down to hate speech.

The Supreme Court of South Africa, however, has ruled that Malema is within his right to sing the lyrics – for the first time popularized during the anti -apartity struggle – in political rallies.

The court ruled that a “reasonably well -informed person” would understand that when “protest songs are sung, even by politicians, the words are not meant to be literally understood, nor is the gesture of shooting to be understood as a call for weapons or violence”.

Instead, the song was a “provocative way” to promote the political agenda of the EFF – which would put an end to “land and economic injustice”.

Lobby Group Afiforum filed an appeal against the ruling, but the highest court in South Africa refused to hear the case and said it had little chance to succeed.

In 2023, former President Tboo Mbeki from South Africa encouraged Malema to stop singing the song and said it was no longer politically relevant because the anti-apartheid struggle was over.

The ANC says it no longer sings, but it cannot “prescribe to other political parties what to sing”.

It doesn’t look that way.

In March, a business group said that nearly 70,000 Afrikaners had shown interest to move to the US after the supply of Trump – of an estimated population of 2.5 million.

On Monday, the American embassy in South Africa published a statement in which the criteria for resettlement were clarified, and said that it covered people from any racial minority, not just Afrikaners, who could call an incident of persecution from the past or fear of persecution in the future.

The most recent census of South Africa, done in 2022, shows that colored people (an officially used term means that people of mixed racial origin) are the largest minority that make up 8% of the population. They are followed by white people, including Afrikaners, at 7%and Asians by 3%.

After the offer of Trump, Afrikaner Lobby Group Solidarity posted an article on its website: “Ten historical reasons to stay in South Africa”.

Last week in parliament, the leader of the right-wing Freedom Front Plus party said they are committed to South Africa.

“We are bound by Africa and will build a future here for ourselves and our children,” said Corné Mulder.