Ramaphosa: Afrikaners heading to US aren’t refugees
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the group of 49 Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States do not qualify as refugees, stating that genuine refugees are those who flee their country out of fear.
His remarks come after the first group of white South Africans selected for U.S. resettlement boarded a charter flight from OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday night, en route to Washington and Texas.
The group left South Africa following US President Donald Trump's offer to grant refugee status to white Afrikaners, whom he claims are facing discrimination based on their race.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan on Monday, Ramaphosa criticised their classification as refugees and said he addressed the issue directly with Trump in a phone call earlier in the morning.
“I had a conversation with President Trump on the phone, and he said, ‘What’s happening down there?’ And I said, ‘President, what you have been told by those people who are opposed to transformation back home in South Africa is not true’. And I added to him that we were well-taught by Nelson Mandela on how to continue to build a united nation out of a diverse grouping that we have in South Africa,” he said.
Ramaphosa accused some of spreading these narratives of using misinformation to undermine South Africa’s democratic progress.
“Those who are spreading misinformation to divide South Africa are anti-transformation and wish to return the country to its apartheid past,” he said.
“Those people who have left are not being persecuted, hounded, or treated badly, and they are leaving because they don’t want to embrace the changes that are taking place in our country in accordance with our constitution.”
Relations between South Africa and the US have become strained amid disagreements over domestic and foreign policies. The tensions peaked in March when South Africa’s ambassador to Washington was expelled.
Despite this, Ramaphosa said he remains open to diplomatic dialogue with the Trump administration.
“I thought in my conversation with him (Donald Trump) he understood that, and I said I would like to come and meet him so that we can discuss this matter further,” he said.
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