A recent immigration offer from U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at white South Africans has been met with a resounding rejection from many within the Afrikaner community. While Trump framed his executive order as a lifeline for Afrikaners facing alleged racial discrimination, right-wing white advocacy groups in South Africa insist they have no interest in becoming refugees. Instead, they say they are committed to staying and “tackling the injustices” they perceive under Black majority rule.
The executive order, signed by Trump on Friday, cuts U.S. aid to South Africa in response to a land expropriation act recently enacted by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The act seeks to address historical racial disparities in land ownership by making it easier for the government to reclaim land in the public interest. For decades, the vast majority of South Africa’s private land has remained in the hands of the white minority, a lingering consequence of colonialism and apartheid.
Trump’s order not only condemned the policy but also extended an invitation for Afrikaners—white descendants of Dutch and French settlers—to migrate to the United States as refugees. The president framed this as a humanitarian gesture, claiming that Afrikaners face “unjust racial discrimination.” However, the response from white South Africans has been largely dismissive, with many expressing no interest in leaving the country.
Groups such as AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement, which represent Afrikaner interests, quickly rejected Trump’s offer. Instead, they reaffirmed their commitment to remaining in South Africa, where they continue to resist land reform policies designed to rectify historical injustices.
“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.
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Similarly, the Solidarity Movement, which claims to represent around 600,000 Afrikaner families, dismissed the idea of resettlement. “We may disagree with the ANC [African National Congress], but we love our country. As in any community, there are individuals who wish to emigrate, but repatriation of Afrikaners as refugees is not a solution for us,” the group stated.
Even representatives of Orania, a whites-only Afrikaner settlement in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, pushed back against the U.S. offer. “Afrikaners do not want to be refugees. We love and are committed to our homeland,” a spokesperson for Orania said.
The rejection of Trump’s offer reflects the ongoing tensions surrounding land ownership in South Africa. White South Africans, who make up just 7.2% of the population, still own the majority of private farmland—a glaring legacy of apartheid-era policies that dispossessed Black South Africans.
Ramaphosa’s land expropriation law is an attempt to address this imbalance, though it has been met with fierce opposition from white landowners and conservative groups. Despite claims of victimization, South Africa’s land reform policies have never involved the forced seizure of land without compensation—something many white South Africans continue to suggest is happening.
Some within the Afrikaner community, however, did acknowledge Trump’s offer, if only with humor or skepticism. Author Pieter du Toit questioned the logistics on social media, jokingly asking, “Is there a test to determine your Afrikanership? Must you hold AfriForum membership? … Are there bakkies [pickup trucks] in the U.S.?” Meanwhile, carpenter Werner van Niekerk, 57, said, “I think it’s a very nice gesture from Donald Trump to offer us asylum over there,” but he did not indicate any plans to leave.
Trump’s intervention in South African politics comes at a time when global attitudes toward white privilege and colonial legacies are under increased scrutiny. Many African nations, including Senegal and Mali, are actively dismantling colonial symbols, while South Africa continues to navigate its own path toward economic and racial justice.
For now, it seems Afrikaners are choosing to stay, not as victims of persecution but as beneficiaries of a system that has long favored them. While some continue to resist land reform, the reality remains: South Africa’s future is one of transformation, whether they like it or not.
