OPINION | Donald Trump doesn't care about 'white genocide', his attack on SA is about geopolitics

Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed an absurd spectacle, white South Africans suddenly crying foul, claiming that Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been misled by fake news into believing that there is a so-called “white genocide” in SA.

These same people, who have for years fuelled the very misinformation that now spreads across the globe, are now pretending to be shocked that their lies are being weaponised on an international stage.

Let us be clear, there is no myth to dispel. White South Africans, particularly the wealthy elite and groups like AfriForum, have spent years amplifying narratives of victimhood, claiming that they are under siege and at risk of extinction.

They have lobbied Western politicians, spread fear-mongering propaganda, and manipulated statistics to create the illusion that their suffering is unique in a country where black South Africans bear the brunt of crime and economic hardship. Now, when their lies are taken too far, they want to distance themselves from the very fake news they have endorsed.

Trump and Musk did not invent the narrative of “white genocide” in SA. They simply picked it up from the white right-wing networks that have pushed this agenda for decades.

AfriForum, the Suidlanders and other Afrikaner nationalist organisations have spent years feeding this misinformation to conservative media in the US and Europe, hoping to gain sympathy from powerful figures who see the world through a lens of white victimhood. Now that Trump and Musk have latched onto these claims and escalated them into a diplomatic issue, suddenly white South Africans are scrambling to say, “No, no, this is fake news.”

But let us ask: why now? Why are white South Africans suddenly panicked about misinformation that they have actively nurtured? The answer is simple, they see the real political stakes. This is not just about farm murders or crime. This is about geopolitics, and the real anger from the West has nothing to do with SA’s crime statistics – it has everything to do with Palestine.

The US and its allies are fuming over SA’s principled stance at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where we have brought a case against Israel for genocide in Gaza. The same Western nations that lecture the world about democracy and human rights are enraged that SA is holding Israel accountable for its war crimes.

Instead of confronting the facts, they have resorted to a co-ordinated smear campaign, using old white nationalist propaganda about “white genocide” to justify an aggressive stance against SA.

But Trump’s attack on SA is not limited to crime statistics. He has now set his sights on the Expropriation Bill, signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa, which provides a legal framework for land expropriation without compensation under specific conditions.

Trump has called this “very bad things”, falsely claiming that SA is illegally seizing private properties. This, too, is a lie. The Expropriation Bill is not a reckless land grab – it is a necessary tool to correct historical injustices where land was stolen from black people and concentrated in the hands of a white minority. It is a legitimate legislative process, guided by the constitution and aligned with global norms for land reform.

Yet, America knows this. The US government understands that the Expropriation Act is not a violation of property rights, but they choose to pretend otherwise because it serves their broader agenda. Their problem is not the law itself; their problem is that SA refuses to remain a neocolonial outpost where the white minority dictates land ownership while the black majority remains landless.

Trump’s motivations have nothing to do with human rights or international stability. He is not a leader interested in global peace, fairness or the collective development of humanity.

He is a transactional politician who sees the world as a business deal – one where the US must extract resources and dominate weaker nations for its own benefit. His attacks on SA are not about diplomacy; they are about ensuring that America, under his leadership, has access to our mineral wealth, strategic resources and geopolitical influence.

Pretoria must not fall for this deception. We must not allow our sovereignty to be sold to a man who sees Africa as nothing more than a continent to be looted for its riches. We must not allow our land reform, our foreign policy or our national dignity to be dictated by a leader who prioritises corporate profits and white nationalist propaganda over justice and fairness.

SA must remain resolute. We must continue to fight for Palestine, for land justice and for a future where the lies of the past no longer dictate the direction of our country.

• Dr Tshwaku is a member of the EFF Central Command Team and MMC for public safety in the City of Johannesburg