Misleading 'white crosses' video: Solidarity responds to Trump's genocide claims

THE AfriForum's aligned Solidarity Union, described the video shown by US President Donald Trump as video evidence of mass atrocities and genocide carried out against white Afrikaner farmers in South Africa as misleading.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, with his delegation that included popular South African golfers Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and businessman Johann Rupert, met with Trump on Wednesday to try and mend ties between the two nations.

Trump ambushed Ramaphosa during a tense exchange with a series of contested claims about the killings of white farmers in South Africa, referring to it as white genocide. 

The US President asked for a montage of video clips to be played, which showed EFF president Julius Malema chanting “Kill the Boer” and footage that showed rows of crosses, which Trump said were the graves of white people.

"People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they're being killed," Trump said. 

Responding to the footage, Ramaphosa asked Trump if he knew where this was, saying he had never seen it before. Trump insisted it was in South Africa.

However, the head of international liaison at Solidarity, Jaco Kleynhans, said the video was not related to a white genocide, saying that the footage was shot in 2020 after one incident of farm murders near Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal.

“The footage that Trump showed was that of another event, and it's not graves, it's just a series of crosses... There was a misunderstanding. Farmers were protesting against farm killings.

“In this case, there had been a farm murder where a farmer and his wife were killed during a robbery," he said.

Kleynhans did stress, however, that there was a memorial erected 30 years ago between Polokwane and Mokopane in Limpopo that pays homage to farmers who have been killed on their farms.

“The memorial is next to the N1 on a farm between Polokwane and Mokopane. There are around 3,000 crosses for everyone that died in farm attacks in the last 30 years,” Kleynhans said.

He said the memorial, which consisted of about 3,000 small crosses that form the shape of a large cross, was not exclusively for white farmers but anybody who had been killed on a farm.

“The vast majority, more than 90%, are Afrikaner farmers. But it is not exclusively Afrikaners, and the crosses are not just for Afrikaners who died in farm attacks. 

He said white farmers make up 0,03% of the South African population (25,000 out of 63 million), but 1% of all murders in 2024 were of farmers.

He added that this did not translate to a fully fledged genocide, but he blamed the government for not prioritising farm murders. 

“We believe farmers, and especially white Afrikaner farmers, are targeted and affected by farm attacks brought about by a deliberate effort by the government not to ensure safety in rural, farm areas, an unwillingness by the police to safeguard farming communities and the continued use of hate songs that encourage violence against white farmers. 

“This is not yet a full-fledged genocide, but is a dangerous precursor to greater violence that could ultimately lead to genocide,” he said.

He said that since the government dismantled the commando units, an armed unit that was designed to protect farmers, farm murders had increased.

“There has been negligence in farm safety. The president has not done much to protect farmers. We are not saying that other murders are less serious. We are just saying that farm attacks must also be prioritised.