Dirco lashes out at AfriForum for backing US policy favouring Afrikaners
Dirco calls AfriForum hypocritical after Trump prioritises Afrikaners in US refugee quota.
Image: Marco Longari / AFP
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has hit back at AfriForum for welcoming the United States government's new refugee policy that prioritises Afrikaners, accusing the lobby group of hypocrisy and undermining South Africa’s sovereignty.
In a formal Presidential Determination published in the Federal Register, US President Donald Trump set a ceiling of 7,500 refugees for the 2026 fiscal year, the lowest in American history, and directed that most of those places be reserved for white Afrikaners.
The Trump administration justified the move by citing alleged 'targeted discrimination and insecurity' faced by the minority group.
The announcement has drawn sharp criticism from Pretoria, which described it as politically motivated and contrary to international refugee principles.
Dirco spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said the department rejected both Washington's approach and AfriForum's endorsement of it.
"AfriForum's logic: We support the rule of law only if the SA courts rule in our favour. If they don't, we cry to foreign governments and undermine our country's sovereignty," Phiri said.
AfriForum, however, defended its support of the US policy, claiming it reflected legitimate international concern for Afrikaners' safety.
"The US embassy and Donald Trump's concerns regarding the well-being of Afrikaners are understandable, given that President Cyril Ramaphosa and the courts still refuse to condemn the call for the murder of Afrikaners through the 'Kill the Boer' chant," AfriForum said.
The lobby group has long accused the South African government of ignoring attacks on white farmers and failing to protect minority communities, claims repeatedly rejected by official crime data and independent studies.
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