Pretoria – A University of Pretoria historian and Afrikaans-speaking South Africans have criticised the US for misrepresenting Afrikaners as victims of racial persecution in post-apartheid South Africa.
In an open letter, they rejected the use of their story to support far-right “Great Replacement” rhetoric in the US, calling it misleading and dangerous.
This follows the publication on Saturday of an article titled “Not in our Name: Afrikaners Respond to the Misuse of Their Story in US Politics”, authored and co-signed by Afrikaans-speaking South Africans.
I am a white South African Afrikaner
Please read & sahre this important statement from many significant Afrikaners correcting Trump’s narrative of racial victimization and even genocide against white Afrikaners, offering them refugee status
He’s wrong! https://t.co/gw6ispWUWX pic.twitter.com/kuieMLPsHN— Alexander F. Venter (@AlexanderVenter) October 27, 2025
Speaking to SABC News, Dr Lindie Koorts noted some Afrikaners who moved to the US under Trump’s refugee resettlement order feel disillusioned, citing difficulties like lack of health insurance and isolation from family.
“There are media reports, especially in the Afrikaans media, of some of the first group of refugees who went to the US and actually feel quite disillusioned. It’s not as easy there as here in South Africa, especially if they run into medical difficulties and do not have health insurance in the US. That is an absolute nightmare, not that our system is perfect,” she said.
“But there are places where it can be even harsher. And also, refugee status means you can’t return to your friends and family, you’re not going to come back for holidays and Christmas.”
WATCH | A group of Afrikaners have penned an open letter rejecting the US government’s recent decision to give white South Africans priority for refugee status. UP historian Dr Lindie Koorts says America doesn’t care about Afrikaners but fears the US may not be majority white by… pic.twitter.com/IxGhB1TrnS
— SABC News (@SABCNews) October 28, 2025
She argued that South Africans, including Afrikaners, are not refugees fleeing war zones and that the US is primarily exploiting Afrikaner fears about becoming a minority by 2050 to promote right-wing agendas.
Last week, US ambassador-designate Brent Bozell III emphasised advancing Trump’s invitation for Afrikaners to resettle in the US and criticised South Africa’s stance on property expropriation, though he could not confirm allegations of “genocide” against Afrikaners when pressed by a US senator.
U.S. Ambassador-Designate to SA Brent Bozell III tells Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he will communicate U.S. objections to South Africa’s “geostrategic drift from non-alignment” towards U.S. competitors, will press SA to “end proceedings against Israel at the ICJ”,… pic.twitter.com/XImZq9nw7r
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) October 23, 2025
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
