The government of South Africa is in contact with US authorities about the Trump government plan to reset white Afrikaners, to ensure that the program does not offer an opportunity for fugitives to escape.
A group of about 100 Afrikaners, a descendant ethnic group mainly from Dutch and French settlers, is scheduled to travel to the US on a chartered flight next week, according to two South African government officials.
South Africa has not yet been informed about who these people are, and local authorities want to ensure that no sought -after individuals leave the country, according to the authorities who have asked not to be identified, as they are not allowed to talk to the media.
“Refugees”
“There are ongoing diplomatic engagement on this particular issue, as well as on other related key issues of bilateral and mutual interest,” said South African presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya, by text message. Discussions should continue over the weekend.
Conversations took place on Friday between South African Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, and US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Foreign Ministry said in a statement in the capital, Pretoria. South Africa sought information about the status of people traveling to the US and guarantees that they were properly verified, according to the statement.
White House spokesmen and the internal security department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Conversations are part of a broader effort from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to repair relations with the US, his second largest commercial partner, who became increasingly tense since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Trump accused the government of expropriating white Afrikaners land and offered them as refugees in the US. Elon Musk, the South African billionaire who supports the president, has spread a conspiracy theory that there is a white “genocide” in the country.
The government has not expropriated land since the end of Apartheid in 1994. South African crime statistics show that the largest number of people murdered in the country are young black men.
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Ramaphosa said on April 24 he had a conversation with his US counterpart to discuss relations between the two countries. During this conversation, Ramaphosa conveyed to Trump that he had received false information about the country, said Magwenya.
“Our position is that there are no South African citizens who can be classified as refugees anywhere in the world, including the US,” he said. “On the contrary, South Africa has been and remains a home for refugees from around the world.”
About 7% of the 63 million inhabitants of South Africa are white, and 11% of the population speaks Afrikaans as a mother tongue.
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Lobby Affrikaner group Solidarity previously declined Trump’s offer to reset his members in February and confirmed on Friday that his position has not changed. The group was also not involved in facilitating the movement of people scheduled to be resettled next week, said spokesman Flip Buys.
Solidarity opposes racial quotas imposed by the government, including mandatory goals for hiring and promoting people within specific racial groups as a way of correcting the economic imbalances caused by Apartheid, when black South Africans were excluded from the economy.
In a letter to Ramaphosa in February, Solidarity refused to have contacted US Administration about a supposed white genocide or that was responsible for the US “negative attitude” in relation to the African National Congress, the largest party of the South African government coalition.
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The New York Times previously reported on Friday about the planned resettlement of the first white Afrikaners next week
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