U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order offering white South Africans, particularly Afrikaners, asylum in the United States has not been met with the expected enthusiasm. While the policy aims to address alleged racial discrimination following South Africa’s land expropriation act, even right-wing Afrikaner organizations have declined the offer, reaffirming their commitment to their homeland.
Trump’s order, signed last Friday, also cuts U.S. aid to South Africa in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s newly enacted land reform policy. The legislation seeks to address historical racial land ownership disparities by enabling the government to expropriate land in the public interest. The move comes as part of an ongoing effort to rectify the effects of apartheid-era policies that disproportionately favored the white minority.
Afrikaners, descendants of early Dutch and French settlers, own a significant portion of South Africa’s farmland despite comprising a small percentage of the country’s population. However, despite Trump’s framing of the situation as one of “unjust racial discrimination,” many Afrikaners and their representative groups have expressed skepticism about leaving South Africa.
“If you haven’t got any problems here, why would you want to go?” asked Neville van der Merwe, a 78-year-old pensioner from Bothasig, Cape Town. “There hasn’t been any really bad taking over of our land. People are carrying on like normal. What are you going to do over there?”
Prominent Afrikaner advocacy groups, including AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement, have rejected Trump’s offer. AfriForum, which had previously lobbied the Trump administration on Afrikaner land rights, stated that emigration would mean the loss of Afrikaner cultural identity.
“Emigration only offers an opportunity for Afrikaners who are willing to risk potentially sacrificing their descendants’ cultural identity as Afrikaners. The price for that is simply too high,” said AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel.
The Solidarity Movement, which represents around 600,000 Afrikaner families, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing their commitment to South Africa despite political disagreements with the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The organization, along with the leadership of Orania—an Afrikaner-only enclave—dismissed Trump’s proposition, with Orania’s statement reading, “Afrikaners do not want to be refugees. We love and are committed to our homeland.”
While some individuals expressed appreciation for Trump’s gesture, few showed interest in uprooting their lives. Author Pieter du Toit humorously questioned the criteria for eligibility, asking whether Afrikaner identity would require proof through AfriForum membership and whether billionaire Elon Musk, a South African-born Trump ally, would provide financial support.
Despite Trump’s assertions, South Africa’s land reform policies have never involved forced seizure of white-owned land. The broader Afrikaner community’s response suggests that many prefer to stay and address their grievances within South Africa rather than seek refuge elsewhere.
