U.S. President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly claimed that white Afrikaners in South Africa are being killed and their farms taken from them in what he has termed a “genocide.” At a time when all other refugee flows into the United States have been cut off, the Trump administration has been offering refugee status to Afrikaner farmers, a “racial minority in South Africa,” according to the U.S. State Department, “who are victims of government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”

Mr. Trump’s reliance on a false narrative that whites are being “killed and slaughtered” was at least partly the reason his administration declined to participate in the Group of 20 summit in November. The annual gathering of leaders from the European and African Unions and 19 global industrial powers was held this year in Johannesburg.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Mr. Trump’s decision to boycott the G20 “regrettable,” adding that “it is even more unfortunate that the reasons the U.S. gave for its non-participation were based on…false allegations that South Africa is perpetrating genocide against Afrikaners and the confiscation of land from white people.”

The next G20 in 2026 will be hosted by the United States in Miami. Mr. Trump recently announced that he will bar South Africa from participating. It was a decision he reached despite the G20 receiving much praise from world leaders following its conclusion this year, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the South African summit an overwhelming success for multilateralism.

Genocide or crime?

The claim of white genocide has been made for years in right-wing South African political circles, but the Trump administration has elevated the erroneous reports to the center of U.S.-South Africa relations. In the view of some analysts, promoting the allegation has been one way Mr. Trump has retaliated against South Africa because of its sponsorship of an investigation before the International Court of Justice into possible genocide charges against Israel because of its actions in Gaza.

In South Africa the genocide narrative has been espoused by some Afrikaner groups who have found in Mr. Trump a sympathetic ear. Two of these organizations are AfriForum and Solidarity, both populist, right-wing political organizations that claim to be building a future for white Afrikaners and their descendants.

These Afrikaner movements offer as evidence of genocide a distorted picture of farm killings in South Africa to foreign governments like the United States. There is no doubt that South Africa has a very high crime rate; many South Africans would say crime is out of control. But crime by far affects more Black South Africans than whites.

Crime statistics, released in November by the South African Police Service, report that two farmers were killed in South Africa over the last six months. During the same period, there were 575 gang-related killings in Black communities in a single province.

Cardinal Stephen Brislin, the archbishop of Johannesburg and president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told America in an email that what saddened him most about the president’s allegation of genocide “is that irresponsible claims and statements can result in increased tensions and put race relationships at risk, with scant regard for the good of the people or the country.”

South Africa “has emerged from a brutal past of discrimination and oppression,” Cardinal Brislin said. “Our transition was nothing short of miraculous, and there was no attempt from the previously oppressed to seek revenge or to annihilate the previous oppressors. Instead, a path of reconciliation was initiated to create a society in which all South Africans belong regardless of race, culture or creed.”

“Those who have stoked the rhetoric of genocide are doing so for narrow political reasons which are shortsighted, unrealistic and dangerous,” Cardinal Brislin said.

“President Trump has his reasons for adopting this rhetoric, despite all evidence to the contrary, and in this, it appears that [AfriForum and Solidarity] are feeding off each other in a type of symbiotic relationship. Probably both are aware of the motivation of the other,” he added.

“The vast majority of Afrikaners are committed to South Africa,” Cardinal Brislin said, “and while there are many challenges, particularly those of crime and violence, they strive in harmony with others for the good of the nation.”

Mr. Trump may make false claims on a global stage, but his amplification of misinformation about white genocide has had a direct impact in South Africa, where race relations are still fragile decades after the end of the racist apartheid system.

Racial tinder

It does not take much to reignite racial tensions in South Africa. They quickly flared up again following the formation of a coalition government after the 2024 general elections that included the predominantly Black African National Congress and the white-led Democratic Alliance. A video surfaced of a Democratic Alliance parliamentarian using offensive language about Black people, reinforcing for many Black South Africans that whites still do not see them as equals.

That Democratic Alliance member was suspended from Parliament.

Many contemporary disparities are deeply rooted in the racist past of the country, a legacy of subjugation under colonialism and later apartheid. Unfortunately, politicians, both white and Black, continue to use race as a tool to stir up their bases. It remains one of the singularly most divisive issues in the country.

Mr. Ramaphosa has warned that certain factions in the country still adhere to white supremacist ideals and threaten the unity of the country. And at times, Black politicians speak intemperately.

The leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, who is Black, mocked “farmers” who had accepted refugee status in the United States and in the past has sung anthems from the anti-apartheid struggle about eliminating white farmers. He also recited the infamous “kill the boer [farmer]” chant and has taunted contemporary white and Indian-descent South Africans.

Mr. Trump’s claims have also caused division in the white community, including among the Afrikaner community, many of whom emphatically say that whites are not facing targeted attacks.

Earlier this year, a group of white Christian leaders—many of whom were Afrikaners—rejected the claim that Afrikaner people are victims of violence and hateful rhetoric. Another group of prominent Afrikaners in South Africa—writers, academics, business leaders and descendants of apartheid-era figures—wrote an open letter titled “Not in Our Name,” rejecting Mr. Trump’s repeated assertions that white South Africans face systematic persecution.

None of South Africa’s political parties—including those that represent Afrikaners and the white community in general—have claimed that there is a genocide being waged in South Africa. The South African Human Rights Commission has also stated that whites are not an oppressed minority group. In fact, a group of Afrikaners has set up an “Afrikaner only” town, tolerated by the current government, led by the African National Congress, in a place called Orania, where Afrikaners claim they live in peace and security.

One resident explained, “Orania is for Afrikaners who share the same values.”

Apartheid came to an end 31 years ago in South Africa, but the nation continues to grapple with its legacy: Unequal access to education and the national health system, discrimination in pay, segregated communities, and massive economic inequalities still exist. A lot of the inequity is entrenched by attitudes and institutions that have not changed despite the end of apartheid.

Managerial control and business ownership are still largely in the hands of the white minority, and unemployment in the country, one of the highest in the world, still affects mainly Black South Africans.

The struggle for a just South Africa

An aggressive policy of the African National Congress to try and redress the inequalities of the past, its Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment program, has had little effect on bridging the disparities in South Africa. Many South Africans agree that the policy has enriched members of the political classes but done little to improve the lot of the common people.

Some commentators have drawn parallels between apartheid and the A.N.C.’s empowerment effort. The Democratic Alliance recently launched a campaign against the policy. The African National Congress hit back, saying that the policy is here to stay and that the stance of the Democratic Alliance is “anti-transformational.”

The nation’s economy is highly racialized, still slanted in favor of white South Africans—7.1 percent of the population—often to the detriment of Black South Africans, who represent 81 percent of the population. No single sector of the economy has more than 50 percent Black ownership, and lucrative economic sectors like finance and agriculture are particularly resistant to change despite policies like the Black Economic Empowerment program.

White South Africans, on the whole, can still afford better education in high-end private institutions, an ongoing advantage over Black South Africans seeking access to higher paying professional jobs.

But land reform remains perhaps the most contested issue in South Africa. The figures speak for themselves: 72 percent of farms are owned by the nation’s minority white people. Black South Africans own only 4 percent of the land.

Many Black people argue that their land was unlawfully taken by white settlers. The apartheid government forced Indigenous people from their land in the 1950s.

To redress this past injustice, the Parliament of South Africa approved a land expropriation law, allowing farmland seizures by the state without compensation. This too has become a political trigger, used by some white Afrikaners to claim they are being persecuted.

AfriForum and Solidarity leaders have been accused of negotiating directly with foreign nations (like the United States) about governance issues in South Africa, creating a threat to national sovereignty. UMkhonto weSizwe, the third largest political party in South Africa, which is led by former President Jacob Zuma, brought a case of treason against AfriForum. Solidarity has proudly proclaimed that it is building a “parallel” state within South Africa to determine the future of white South Africans.

The two movements claim they are acting “constitutionally” and that they uphold the law; yet they also use the South African Constitution to weaponize rights in an effort to preserve the old order of white privilege.

[Read next: “Pope Leo warned about fake news. President Trump just showed us a worst-case scenario.”]

Russell Pollitt, S.J., is America’s Johannesburg correspondent.

A priest from the Region of South Africa, he is currently director of the Jesuit Institute South Africa. He has written for a number of publications including the Southern African Catholic Weekly "The Southern Cross”; The Southern African Quarterly Magazine “Trefoil”; The Southern African Journal “Grace & Truth” and is the religious correspondent for South Africa’s biggest online news site "Daily Maverick." He is the author of Now is the Favourable Time. Daily Reflections for Lent and has made contributions to other books including Why Do You Weep? Finding Consolation and Peace in Times of Grief.  

Father Pollitt is frequently asked for commentary on church and aocial issues in South Africa. He has been interviewed on a number of networks including the SABC, eNCA, Talk702, 567 CapeTalk, BBC and the Catholic Station Radio Veritas. Prior to being director of the Jesuit Institute he served as pastor of the downtown Jesuit church in Johannesburg. He serves on the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference Advisory Committee for Social Communications. Time and training permitting he is also a keen runner and has completed a number of marathons and half-marathons.