The reasons behind Trump's SA genocide narrative

The Government of the US has imported 49 Afrikaners and labelled them as ‘refugees’. The claim is that they are escaping from the persecution of Afrikaners – and white people more broadly – in South Africa (SA) today. However, Wits University Professor Roger Southall says the Trump administration knows perfectly well this claim is ‘a complete fabrication’. As President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government have pointed out, there is no evidence whatsoever that Afrikaners or white people more generally are subject to genocide. ‘SA has one of the highest murder rates in the world. But it is poor black South Africans – not whites – who are principal victims of such deadly violence.’ He adds Afrikaners/whites are not being subject to persecution. Along with all other South Africans, their human rights are protected by a Constitution. Its provisions, he points out, are largely enforced by the courts. ‘Furthermore, genocide implies the deliberate elimination of a people on racial, ethnic, or religious grounds. Therefore, if a genocide of whites and Afrikaners was taking place, we might assume that their numbers would be falling. In fact the reverse is true. The white population has continued to grow (albeit slowly) in absolute numbers since 1994.’ Writing on The Conversation site, Southall outlines the motivations of the Trump administration:
* The US administration has launched an attack on what it terms the ‘tyranny’ of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ policies across the entire spectrum of public and private institutions in America. Because of SA’s constitutional commitment to non-racialism and diversity, it has been singled out for attack.
* Labelling Afrikaners as refugees plays to the insecurities of Trump’s political base. This finds the idea of a white minority being ruled by a black majority government difficult to swallow.
* Characterising Afrikaners as subject to genocide is a very deliberate response to SA’s charging of Israel as guilty of genocide against the Palestinian people before the International Court of Justice.

Southall argues whites as a ‘population group’ have participated fully in SA democracy. They are more highly disposed to voting in elections than other racial groupings, and are well represented in Parliament and local government. However, he says if we want to guess the motivations of Trump’s 49 ‘refugees’, we need to bear in mind the following:
* Until we know more about the personal circumstances of the individuals involved, we cannot really know what has driven them to take the drastic step of leaving families and their personal history behind by moving to America.
* Most whites have responded to the arrival of democracy in SA pragmatically. While they have their numerous complaints, they have continued to enjoy high rates of employment. However, there remains a minority which has remained wholly unreconciled to the changes which have taken place politically and economically since 1994.
* Although most whites continue to do well economically, the changes which have taken place since 1994 have led to the re-appearance of ‘a small class of largely uneducated poor whites’ who feel excluded from employment by equity employment legislation.

Southall presumes the Afrikaner 49 belonged to that category of whites which – for one reason or another – is disposed to leave SA. However, emigrating requires jumping through numerous hoops. Apart from the emotional costs involved, emigration is not always the easiest of options, even for those who wish to ‘escape’. ‘The evidence suggests that the heads of household among the Afrikaner 49 are drawn not only from that minority of Afrikaners who are totally unreconciled to democracy, but who – quite simply – are opportunists who have availed themselves of a short cut to emigrate.’

Full opinion piece on The Conversation site