As you read this, a group of 49 Afrikaners is settling in their new home in the US. They were scheduled to land yesterday as part of a first batch of Afrikaners who have been granted refugee status through an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump.
The matter is making international headlines and President Cyril Ramaphosa – who was at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, yesterday – had to field questions about it during a presidential panel discussion yesterday.
Ramaphosa correctly pointed out that the 49 moving to the US as refugees do not meet the requirements to be granted such a status. He disclosed that he had alerted Trump to this during a recent call – but the US went ahead with their plan to resettle the South Africans.
The 1951 Refugee Convention, which serves as a framework for the UN Refugee Agency, defines a refugee as a person who is outside their country of nationality due to a legitimate fear of persecution for reasons such as race, religion, nationality, social group membership, or political opinion, and who is either unable or unwilling to seek protection from that country; or who, without a nationality and outside their previous habitual residence, cannot or is unwilling to go back due to that fear.
The people welcomed by the Trump administration yesterday do not fit any of these requirements. Trump is rolling out the red carpet to people who are opposed to transformation. The so-called "race laws" are meant to correct the imbalances created by apartheid. Those opposed to these laws yearn for the old days when black people were excluded from owning land and from using the same public facilities as their white patriots. Those days are over.
Ironically, the US under Trump has embarked on a massive deportation drive targeting people who have been in the country for decades, including those fleeing war-ravaged countries. Some of them are from neighbouring countries and have one thing in common –they are not white.
The US did not open its doors in this manner during the painful period of apartheid when black people were killed, tortured, jailed and isolated for merely fighting for their freedom.
Claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted because of race are based on lies. There is also no targeting of white farmers and there are no state-sponsored land grabs.
We are all global citizens and we’re free to settle in any country that we desire. However, this must not be done at the expense of this country’s reputation.
SOWETAN SAYS | Afrikaner 'refugees' exempted due to race
Image: Siphiwe Sibeko
As you read this, a group of 49 Afrikaners is settling in their new home in the US. They were scheduled to land yesterday as part of a first batch of Afrikaners who have been granted refugee status through an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump.
The matter is making international headlines and President Cyril Ramaphosa – who was at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, yesterday – had to field questions about it during a presidential panel discussion yesterday.
Ramaphosa correctly pointed out that the 49 moving to the US as refugees do not meet the requirements to be granted such a status. He disclosed that he had alerted Trump to this during a recent call – but the US went ahead with their plan to resettle the South Africans.
The 1951 Refugee Convention, which serves as a framework for the UN Refugee Agency, defines a refugee as a person who is outside their country of nationality due to a legitimate fear of persecution for reasons such as race, religion, nationality, social group membership, or political opinion, and who is either unable or unwilling to seek protection from that country; or who, without a nationality and outside their previous habitual residence, cannot or is unwilling to go back due to that fear.
The people welcomed by the Trump administration yesterday do not fit any of these requirements. Trump is rolling out the red carpet to people who are opposed to transformation. The so-called "race laws" are meant to correct the imbalances created by apartheid. Those opposed to these laws yearn for the old days when black people were excluded from owning land and from using the same public facilities as their white patriots. Those days are over.
Ironically, the US under Trump has embarked on a massive deportation drive targeting people who have been in the country for decades, including those fleeing war-ravaged countries. Some of them are from neighbouring countries and have one thing in common –they are not white.
The US did not open its doors in this manner during the painful period of apartheid when black people were killed, tortured, jailed and isolated for merely fighting for their freedom.
Claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted because of race are based on lies. There is also no targeting of white farmers and there are no state-sponsored land grabs.
We are all global citizens and we’re free to settle in any country that we desire. However, this must not be done at the expense of this country’s reputation.
'Afrikaners who left are opposed to change'
WATCH | First white South Africans board plane for US under Trump refugee plan
First white South African ‘refugees’ due in US next week, NYT reports
Saai on hand to assist farmers willing to take up US settlement offer
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