PRETORIA, South Africa — On Saturday, a demonstration of support for President Donald Trump took place outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, with some white South Africans claiming victimhood due to alleged government racism.
Hundreds of protesters displayed signs expressing gratitude towards President Trump and criticizing what they perceive as discriminatory South African laws targeting the white minority.
Many participants hailed from the Afrikaner community, who recently cut aid to the South African government. Trump’s assertion that these Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch colonial settlers, are unjustly targeted by a new land expropriation law prompted this action.
The South African government refutes the notion that the law is racially motivated, denouncing Trump’s claims as misinformation and distortion.
Trump’s statement that land is being seized from Afrikaners, whom he termed “racially disfavored landowners,” is inaccurate, as the law has yet to result in any land seizures. He also proposed offering Afrikaners refugee status in the U.S., despite them only comprising a segment of South Africa’s white population.
In a parliamentary address this week, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that forced removals will never be tolerated in South Africa again, referencing the historical dispossession of Black South Africans under apartheid and colonialism.
Ramaphosa clarified that the land law prevents arbitrary land seizures and focuses solely on land redistribution for the public good.
The Trump administration’s criticism and sanctions against South Africa have exacerbated the country’s long-standing struggle to address the injustices of past white minority rule.
According to the government, the aim of the land law is to rectify the inequality where the majority of South Africa’s farmland is owned by whites, despite them representing only 7% of the population.
Saturday’s white protesters’ banners referenced the expropriation law and other affirmative action policies enacted since the end of apartheid in 1994 to improve Black South Africans’ opportunities. These Black Economic Empowerment policies have caused discontent among some white South Africans.
Elon Musk, a prominent Trump advisor raised in South Africa, has been a long-standing critic of the South African government, alleging anti-white bias, although his motives have been questioned. His recent application for a Starlink satellite internet service license in South Africa was rejected due to non-compliance with affirmative action regulations.
Despite race’s significant role in South African politics, the country has largely achieved racial reconciliation since the end of apartheid. The current government is a coalition of ten Black- and white-led parties collaborating together.
—Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa